Times Are A'Changin'
by Ingrid Micaha Piper
Summary: Whoever said life was fair, was clearly not talking about Alex's. After his school is attacked, he ends up spending some quality time at his favourite SAS camp. Unfortunately, life gets in the way once again, and now everyone around him is in danger.
1. Who are they?

"Alex Rider," hissed Julia Rothman.

"Alex Rider," coughed Herod Sayle.

"Alex Rider," glared Winston Yu.

"Alex," said Jack. "Alex, time to get up." When she got no response she started shaking him.

Something was wrong, Alex recognised that---- they were calling his name more urgently now and something was different with their tone of voice----this one was much more comforting, caring.

"Alex, Alex!! Get up Alex; you'll be late to school!"

Jack sighed in relief as Alex sat up, a little disoriented looking.

"Alex," she called softly, wanting to attract his attention. He whipped his head round to face her and she saw that his face was covered in sweat.

"Another one?" she asked, and her heart ached because she couldn't help him with this problem----couldn't take the weight off his shoulders.

Alex nodded his head. This last nightmare had been especially vivid compared to the others he had been having over the past couple weeks. He felt as if they had been standing in front of him, mocking him, calling his name.

Jack just shook her head, an angry expression on her face as she muttered under her breath, "…would never have even started if _they_ had just left him alone…" by which point Alex tuned out as Jack went into her daily rant about MI6 and how they had ruined both their lives.

"Jack," he said. "Jack." He tried one last time "JACK!!!"

"… and as for that Mrs Jones… what? Oh, yes Alex, what do you want?"

Alex sighed; Jack was the best guardian he could have hoped for apart from her rants about MI6 and cluelessness at times.

"Jack, could you please get out of my room while I change?"

Jack was still not quite with it again. "What? Oh yes, school. I'll just go downstairs and pack your schoolbag for you. Where did'ya put your timetable again?"

"I left it on the table last time I remember," Alex called down the stairs after her as he shut his door and got changed for school. He grabbed his now packed bag off the table on the way out and a piece of toast with a bit of butter on it. As he was about to get on his bike he remembered his watch which was still sitting on his nightstand. Quickly, he ran up the stairs, grabbed his watch and called out a goodbye to Jack.

"Bye Jack. Gotta go, I'm late!"

Then he all but jumped on his bike and started pedalling furiously towards Brookland. When he reached the playground, there was nobody in sight. Quickly, he spun the bike into a sliding stop while getting his bike lock out of his pocket and readying it to be put on his bike. It wasn't necessary but in all his fourteen years, Alex had learned that it didn't hurt to overly cautious.

Swiftly he snapped the bike lock on the bike and ran into school. Through the main doors, past reception down the corridor on the right and into the third classroom on the left. Due to his current fitness state, he wasn't out of breath, panting or tired in the least, but a normal teenager would be. Alex was careful to hold his breath while he ran down the corridor so that by the time he reached his class, he would be panting for breath.

He burst through the door and put his hands on his knees, panting for breath, hopefully giving the impression that he was tired and out of breath.

"Sorry I'm late, sir," he gasped.

"It's okay, Alex. Please take your seat and see that it doesn't happen again," Mr Cameron said.

Alex made his way to his seat next to Tom, who grinned and whispered to him, "What's with the hold up?"

"Tell you later," Alex replied out of the corner of his mouth, while getting out his books.

The period passed slowly, as did the next 5. It happened when they were in English, the subject in which everybody fell asleep due to the teacher's method of teaching, which was to give them comprehension after comprehension. The teacher's name? Mr Simpson.

So when a man and a woman, both dressed in black, entered the room, most of the class welcomed the intrusion. Most of the class being everybody but Mr Simpson and Alex. Mr Simpson because he hated being interrupted and Alex because he had a nagging feeling in his gut that told that these people were no good. The strange thing was, he felt like he knew the woman. She had an hourglass figure, dark brown/black eyes, a slightly tanned complexion, long black hair that reached her waist and was wearing black stilettos.

She spoke first.

"You," she said, looking at Mr Simpson with contempt. "Sit down on the floor now, with your hands above your head. Move slowly."

As of the moment Alex heard her voice and saw her eyes, he knew he was dealing with a professional. Her eyes were bottomless, hollow pits that reflected everything around her, but didn't hold any emotion. Alex knew from his Karate training that a person's voice could give away their character, and what he heard was not good. Her voice was like a razor, sharp, cruel and cold, which told him that she was a sweet, lovable person. Yeah right.

Then he heard Mr Simpson start to speak and his attention swung back to his teacher, who quite frankly, was an idiot for not doing what the woman said.

"Hold on here a second," he began, and Alex groaned internally, but he was cut off by the man. He had been so quiet that Alex had near forgotten about him.

"I suggest that you do as she says," he said menacingly, reaching behind him and pulling out a gun, which he cocked and pointed at his head.

Ignoring the gun, Mr Simpson ploughed on as if the interruption had never happened, "Just who do you think you are coming in her and disrupting a class of schoolchildren who are learning vital skills for later on in life?"

Alex was now convinced that Mr Simpson was incredibly brave, or incredibly stupid. His thoughts tended to lean towards the latter.

The woman grinned viciously, and began to speak.

"I don't remember telling you to speak? Do you?" she said, turning to her partner, who grinned in the exact same way and shook his head.

"Oh well, guess I'll have to kill you. What a pity," she said, her voice implying the complete opposite.

"Before you die, I will grant you your last question. We are the enemy." And with that, she drew out a gun and shot him in cold blood. The body of Mr Simpson swayed and then crumpled to the floor, splattering blood everywhere. A few girls screamed.

"Silence," the woman said, turning the gun on the whole class. At once the class was still, barely daring to breathe. Alex continued to stare at the woman as she walked over to Mr Simpson's desk and started sorting through the papers on his desk, looking for something. All the while the man was holding his gun pointed at the class. Alex knew he had to do something but he wanted more information on them. Eventually she found what she was looking for and Alex recognised it----the name register that each teacher called to see who was absent and who was in school at the start of each period. Alex was a little confused. What would they want with the register? And then it hit him. They were going to be held captive and they needed to know the names of the people they were bringing and of course if anybody tried to run off, they could easily find out who it was.

The woman was checking through it right now for the sixth period class. Alex looked around the room and noticed the scared expressions on his classmates' faces, suddenly aware that his expression was calm. He hurried to put a terrified look on his face like the one on Jessica Gipson's.

It appeared the woman had found the list as she started to talk again.

"Alright, listen up! When I call your name, you're going to stand up and give me two facts on your abilities. Not, for example, I like to play with my Barbies. We want to know information," she barked out. "For example, I have done my silver swimming award, I can run 3 miles and not get tired, I can fire a gun, that sort of thing. Right then, what are you waiting for?"

First person up was Jonathon Andrews. He rose from his seat slowly.

"Faster!" barked out the woman. "When I give you an order I expect you to move! Now," she said, "any special abilities?"

"I-I…uh…I mean...um...I can swim 1600m without getting tired," Jonathon replied, getting more confident.

The woman smiled sweetly at him. "Good! Sit down!" she paused to write down what he had said.

"Levi Aldrich," she called.

"Nothing."

"Sit!"

It was then that Alex noticed it, surprised that he hadn't before. A small silver scorpion tattooed onto the skin between her forefinger and thumb.

The hiss slid through his teeth accidently, "Scorpia."

The reactions he got to that word were amazing. The class began murmuring.

"Scorpia? What's that?" "I've never heard of it before." "This _is_ Rider remember?"

"Yeah but what does it mean?"

The man trained the gun on him as soon as the word escaped his lips. The woman however appeared unfazed, busy writing down what Levi had said. When she was finished she pointed to him with the pen.

"Up, boy," she commanded. Alex stood up. "Name?" she questioned.

"Alex Rider," Alex said.

The woman had begun to write his name down when suddenly she stopped.

"Alex Rider?"

The rest of his class was watching Alex and the strange woman in confusion. Alex readied himself for an attack coming from her when, all of a sudden, she tipped her head back and laughed.

"No way. This is not the infamous Alex Rider?!" she said. "Come here. Now!"

Alex slowly walked to the front of the class.

"Now, Alex. Someone here in your class asked a very good question, which we answered, which you chose to answer in more explicit detail. Would you please explain to your class what Scorpia is?"

Alex stared at the woman with hate in his eyes. "No," he said, very deliberately.

"I beg your pardon?" the woman asked.

"You heard me," Alex said, growing tired of playing games. Every fibre in his body was screaming at him to attack.

"But Alex," she said, her voice sounding sickly sweet. "Don't they know what you do? Why you're gone from school all the time?"

This time the class were looking at Alex with curiosity. Alex personally felt sick. If the truth got out…

"I'm afraid I don't know what you were talking about," Alex replied, trying to play it cool.

"Oh but I think you do, Alex," she said loud enough for them all to hear. "You didn't tell them, did you? So it remains my duty to inform all subordinates of your status." She paused to take a breath.

"Alex Rider, is, in fact a spy…"

And that's when Alex attacked. He couldn't help himself. He kicked and blocked and punched when appropriate. It was all over quickly. The woman left her guard down for a minute and Alex struck her temple with his elbow, knocking her out. He pushed her to the ground before taking the gun strapped to her arm. Cocking the gun, Alex looked around the room. He hadn't even broken a sweat.

His classmate' expressions were pictures, even Tom's. In fact he wouldn't be surprised if their jawbones were discovered in China. Tearing his gaze away from them he saw the man standing at the far side of the classroom still holding the gun.

That's when the whispers began.

"What the…?" "How'd he do that?" "I didn't know Rider was so good at Karate."

"Do yo think he's really a spy?" "Na, what did the woman mean by status?"

Alex sighed. There went normality out the window. Then the man started to talk.

"Alex is a spy," he confirmed. A few of his classmates still looked sceptical at this, but the majority looked as if they believed him.

"Cool," said Johnathon. "Do you mean, as in, like MI6?"

The man nodded. Alex was getting a bit tired of them all talking about him like he wasn't here.

"That's enough from you," he said, pointing the gun at the man.

"But Alex," the man protested, a small, cruel smile on his face. "We haven't even got into your history of missions. Did you tell your friends that you've been to Cuba? Mont Blanc? Inside an Air Force 1 plane? Bangkok? Flamingo Bay? Venice?" he hissed out the last word.

He continued with his narration of Alex's life, "Oh yes. You've been to Venice," he said with malicious intent in his eyes. "Who here went on the school trip to Venice a few months back?"

Alex groaned as members of his class raised their hands.

"Did you ever wonder where he disappeared to? Did you really think he'd gone home? Alex Rider came to Scorpia."

The whole class looked a bit confused by now, Tom included. Alex mentally whacked himself on the forehead. He'd left out this part of his spying adventure in his explanation to Tom.

"Tell them Alex or I will, I'll tell them by shooting this young girl here. Tell them about Scorpia," the man said.

Alex dropped the gun in defeat and started talking.

"Scorpia, correct me if I get any of this wrong, sir," Alex said, laying an emphasis on the sir, making it sarcastic. "Sabotage, Corruption, Intelligence and Assassination. Those are what the letters of Scorpia stand for and it's their main activity points. "That's what we do," the man said nodding his head for emphasis.

"Now tell us, Alex. How did you come to know this? The whole story, please."

"I was told this by Mrs Rothman when I decided to join Scorpia," There were gasps from all around the room when he said this. "I then went to Malagosto to be trained."

Alex shut his mouth, aware that he had said way too much.

"Good. Alex, tell us, please, what they were teaching you on Malagosto," the man said, eyes sparkling with joy at Alex's demise.

"How to kill," Alex answered as if he was a robot.

"Now little kiddies we're going to here from Alex how the story ends."

"I was sent to kill the second in command of MISO," Alex was enjoying watching the looks on his friends faces in a strange way. It comforted him to know that he hadn't been entirely unprepared for the day when he would be forced to tell his friends everything. "I failed and MI6 captured me again. I prevented you all from dying. The End."

"But Alex," the man said. "You haven't explained your injury to them yet."

This time the class' mutterings were louder. They had all noticed that Alex came back to school rather battered.

"I refuse to do that," Alex said in a clear voice. "It is irrelevant."

"Very well, then. I will tell them. Alex here was a fool to cross Scorpia and as he walked out of MI6 headquarters we had a surprise waiting…."

Alex lunged across the room, which was jus what the man wanted. Alex saw the sheen of the knife's blade but was too late to stop it. He was a little confused when he felt no pain and then he realised that hurting him hadn't been the man's intention, all he'd wanted to do was slit his shirt. From top to bottom. Alex threw his shirt on the floor and dived after the man again. But before he reached him, the man called out, "Look. Now you can all see the surprise we gave Alex." Alex looked down and realised that his scar from his bullet wound was visible.

All his classmates were staring at him in wonder, Tom as well. Alex hadn't told him he'd been shot ever. He hated talking about it.

Alex stopped running at the man, turned, went back to where the gun was lying on the floor and lifted it off the ground. He made sure the safety was on and walked towards the man.

"Did you tell them you went into space Alex?" he said hoping to throw him off guard.

But Alex replied with a calm, "No."

And then he ran at the man, swinging the gun as if it were a club, but the man got there first and stabbed him in the arm with his blade. Alex ignored the sudden pain and clubbed the man over the head with the gun. The man fell to the floor unconscious. Alex yanked out the blade and used it to shred his shirt into six strips to tie up the man with. He used three. One for his hands, ankles and a gag for his mouth. Then he walked over to the woman and did the same to her. And then he faced his class.

"Is anybody will to donate their shirt or have an extra one? Girls do you have a jump rope or some long thread?" Alex asked his class.

Then Tom took off his shirt and gave it to Alex.

"Thanks," he said. And proceeded to shred that shirt as well.

"Now, does anyone have water?" A girl out her hand up and Alex went to take it from her.

"Thanks," he said again. He pored about a quarter of the water onto one strip which he used to clean his wound and then he just splashed water on his face and wet a few others which he bound around his arm over the wound.

Then he made his way back to his seat and sat down. Everyone was looking at him.

Alex sighed, "Alright. What do you want to know?" immediately a babble of voices


	2. Say What!

**A/N; Sorry bout the last chapter guys. I must have forgotten to take off the ending. Guilty. Please review---I don't mind flamers. =)**

**Thanks to all my reviewers---I love you guys and especially to blackkat09 who gave me a whole new look at the story and helped me to adjust it to be more realistic.**

**Disclaimer- I don't own Alex Rider---belongs to Anthony Horowitz.**

**Chapter 2**

Immediately a babble of voices greeted his words.

"How long have you been working for MI6 for?" "Did you actually want to be a spy?" "Are you okay?" "What's with the bullet wound? Were you really shot?"

"Have you been on any missions?"

Alex closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. He could feel a headache coming on. He knew that this had been a bad idea. Opening his eyes again, he saw that everyone was looking at him.

"Silence," Alex said, reiterating the woman. At once there was quiet. Alex reached into his bag and brought out a laptop. He wasn't sure what kind of technology Mr Smithers had installed because he hadn't bothered to ask, but he knew it was brand knew. He typed out a short message to Mr Blunt and Mrs Jones that read;

'_Situation compromised. Currently have two Scorpia agents subdued and bound. Requesting back-up as possibly not on their own, other cells infiltrating school is a possibility. Position compromised and class now know my status. Please advise on following action.'_

He didn't need to sign his name. Smithers had said that this was a prototype which meant it could only come from him.

**Meanwhile: On the floor at the front of the room**

The woman moaned, a sound muffled by the gag that Alex had secured over her mouth. She blinked and opened her eyes and then winced at the throbbing at the side of her skull. How had this happened? It was supposed to be a simple hostage situation. They go in, capture the little kiddies with no resistance then demand money from the government and once it was received, let them go---maybe. There was going to be three cells in charge of the whole school for goodness sake! **(A/N; A cell has 6 people in it)** Why had they not been informed that Alex Rider was going to be here? Her mind flashed back to the day she was told about her mission.

"_Your cell will be in charge of sector six," Mr Kroll had said, pointing to the eastern side of the school. "We have been informed that there is only one class going on in this sector at the time, in room 17. Simons has a list of the people in that classroom. Nothing special as far as we can see. One's father is a policeman, another's second cousin works for DGSE (_**A/N: French secret service**) _and another's grandfather has connections to the Mafia but like I said-nothing special. The best course of action is two enter the room, two watch these exits here,"-he pointed to the ones at the end of the corridor-"and two more here-he pointed to the emergency exit doors, situated halfway down the corridor on the right. Simons, please give them the report." The man named Simons stepped forward from his position, which was right beside Mr Kroll and gave her a thin, manila folder entitled 'Sector six, Room 17'. He then stepped back into his former position. There was nothing special about him. He was dressed in a black suit and sapphire blue tie, with black leather loafers on his feet. He had a tanned complexion, light ginger hair and dark brown eyes. Nothing extraordinary but Mr Kroll seemed to trust him so I was okay with him being there._

"_May I enquire as if there is a time limit?" I asked, wondering how long it would take to tie them up._

"_There is no time limit. However, I want them all unharmed. We can't have our new recruits hurting can we?" Mr Kroll said, smiling._

"_No, sir. At once, sir," I said and left the room._

_XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX_

_The man called Simons hurried down the corridor and into his room. He glanced at the sheet lying on his desk again. It was an exact copy of the report on the class that Amanda (1) and Neal had just received. Except this one had one more name on the list. Alex Rider. Simons sighed, then locked the door, gripped his hairline and pulled his face off. Ben Daniels sighed again. Somehow he had to get a message to MI6 about this. It was luck that he was assigned to this task. Fortunately, he had managed to wipe Alex's name off the records and lists, and place him in a school in Liverpool. Suddenly he grabbed the sheet and threw it in the bin. This was a brief flash of light and a muffled whoosh as the incinerator detected it. A few moments later it was a pile of ashes. _

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx-End of Flashback-xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**In an MI6 office in The Royal and General Bank on Liverpool Street, London**

"William, is Mr Blunt busy?"

"No, ma'm."

"Please inform him that I am coming up."

"Right away, ma'm."

Two minutes later, Mrs Jones walked into Mr Blunt's office on the fifth floor. He had his back to her but swivelled his chair around when he heard her enter the room.

"You wanted to see me?"

"This just came in from Alex," Mrs Jones said. "He's requested back-up."

Mr Blunt was silent, busy reading the print out of the email that Alex had sent to them a few minutes ago.

"It strikes me odd that both Scorpia agents were taken down by Alex. Usually they would have been better informed of the situation." Blunt paused, looking thoughtful. "How long has it been since we've have contact with Agent Daniels?"

Mrs Jones was a little taken aback by Blunt's change of subject but she tried not to show it. "About one week. Why?"

Blunt was silent and Mrs Jones could almost see and hear the cogs turning in his brain.

"I want you to send in Operation full backup to Brookland. And attempt contact with Daniels."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

**Back In the Classroom**

After sending the email, Alex rifled through his bag for the emergency kit he _knew_ he had put in there a little while ago, but had forgotten about in the aftermath of Scorpia's attack. Eventually he found it and opened it up, checking through each of the little bottles holding pills until he found the aspirin. While searching for it, he found some gauze which he wrapped around his injury after removing the strips of cloth from it. Frankly, he was amazed at the stuff Smithers had managed to pack in that little kit. It looked as if he had brought half the medical room plus more.

Alex shook a couple pills from the aspirin bottle onto his hand.

"What are you…" the boy that had asked the question took one look at Alex's expression and decided that it would be a good idea if shut up. Right now.

Alex swallowed the last mouthful of water left in the water bottle and swallowed the pills. He closed his eyes and leaned back in his seat. MI6's reinforcements should be here soon. Gradually he could feel his headache staring to recede, so he tipped his chair forward, back into its normal position and opened his eyes, only to find the whole class staring at him.

**At the SAS base, Brecon Beacons**

"Sir, this was just paged through from MI6. They are requesting Operation full backup. Apparently there ahs been a hostage situation at a school."

The Sergeant barely grunted in reply.

"I'll put them on stand by right away, sir," said the SAS member and promptly left the office.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"Unit K report to central office at 1500 hours," said the same recruit into the intercom system. It was lunch time at the moment and all units were eating and resting before their next activity. Wolf was sitting in a corner thinking about what he had just heard. Impatiently he checked his watch. It was 1357 hours. Beside him was Snake, Eagle and Leopard (Leopard being Ben's replacement).

"I wonder what they want us for?" he mused out loud.

"Probably something small and insignificant problem that they want to waste our time on," replied Leopard. Wolf gritted his teeth in irritation. Leopard's pessimistic attitude was staring to annoy him.

**Back in the classroom**

Alex zipped up the medical kit and put it back into his bag. The he fished around until ha found what he had been looking for. It had taken MI6 a long time to accept that he could handle a gun, but it seemed he had finally convinced them. He drew the Colt 55 out of his bag, checked it was loaded and strapped it to the holster he had previously fastened on his left calf. A few of the girls sitting near Alex gasped when they saw the gun and a few boys shot Alex envious glances which Alex returned with a cold glare, which none of the boys seemed to be able to, or want to, hold very long. These boys had no experience of the outside world---to them the gun was a thing of beauty and wonder---to Alex, it was something you could use to save your life,or end it with.

Fishing around in his schoolbag, Alex took out the exploding bubblegum packets (it had been so effective on its maiden mission that Smithers had given Alex almost a sweet store worth---in all different shapes and sizes. This one was Sweet Mint flavour, one of Alex's favourites), fifteen 10p coins (the exploding sort used on his mission with Snakehead), a various assortment of smoke bombs that could, blind, make your eyes tear up, throw up a freezing fog that he could escape through and other things like that. Smithers had also been delighted to provide Alex with another bulletproof windbreaker that resembled the one worn on his final encounter with Damian Cray, diamond edged shoe laces, another bottle of Zit Cream (the special kind), straws that spat out a sleeping darts when blown through (shown in Scorpia in Mrs Jones flat) and a case containing a silencer and numerous bullets.

Alex's class watched in a severe state of confusion as he piled all these items onto his desk and then began putting them on himself where appropriate. The windbreaker went over his head, gum and zit cream into his left trouser pocket, money and a few straws in his right, the rest he stuffed down the hem in his trousers after a little…persuasion (he ripped open a few stitches at the beginning of it). The smoke bombs he slotted into little nooks and crannies in the case containing the silencer and the bullets. Maybe it was his training, but Alex had to take a few out and shove them into the windbreakers pocket, keeping a few back just in case of an attack. He knew that he should be heading around the school right now, ensuring nobody was hurt, but he was unsure as to their numbers and doing something foolish like that would only get him killed---and what help would he be then?

**Brecon Beacons**

"C'mon, c'mon," Wold muttered impatiently, glancing at his watch for the third time in 5 seconds. He wanted to find out what was going on, so he could complete the mission and get back to relaxing. Spring break was a couple weeks away and everything was winding down. It was a big thing to have 3 days off your job for SAS men, and even then, six teams hand to be kept at base on stand by during the time period that the majority was away.

"K-Unit. Enter," the soldier that had been speaking over the intercom earlier was talking to them now.

Wolf thought that it was about time. They had reported to here at the allocated time---only to find out that the sergeant was busy taking a telephone call, and had had to wait for 30 minutes until he was finished. Wolf stood up, Eagle, Leopard and Snake right behind him, and walked into the office.

The sergeant started to speak almost immediately, a frown on his face.

"MI6 have requested our services. I just got off the phone to Mr Blunt and they're telling us nothing, but their must be something important at that school that they need because they requested full backup."

Wolf mused quietly. A full backup? That was when all teams went in---apart form three that stayed at base for ultimate backup **(A/N; I'm making this part up but --- there was 64 teams on campus at the moment---that was the made up bit---soz I have no idea if that is true or not).** Wolf looked around the room and saw Eagle frowning in concentration, having apparently not gotten it yet. Leopard's expression was perfectly composed, an emotionless mask. Snake was scowling and muttered something along the lines of 'fabulous', but a SAS soldier wouldn't say something like that---would he???

After judging that the men had all absorbed what he had just said, apart from Eagle, but then, an SAS man didn't have to be all brains and apparently, this one was not at home but the lights were on, engine running but nobody behind the wheel---that sort of thing, the sergeant started to speak again.

"Even though I'm unhappy doing this, I'm going to call a half backup, that means that you, along with 31 other teams, will leave base at 1700 hours. I'm giving permission for full gear up. Do you understand your orders?"

"Sir, yes sir," the men gave the automatic response that had been drilled into them and filed out of the room.

Once they were out of the office, Wolf turned to the other men behind and said, "What is going on? First _**MI6**_, repeat, _**MI6**_ ask us for help **(it was well known throughout base that MI6 preferred to do things there own way, rarely if ever asking for help)**---and then they call for a full backup. What do they have that they want at Brookland School???" he began to pace the width of the corridor.

"Maybe they've hidden some sort of secret weapon in the basement or something?" jokes Eagle, relaxing against the wall. Leopard leaned over, and with the ease of one used to doing so, cuffed Eagle hard on the back of his head.

"Ow," Eagle said and probed the back of his head gently and winced. "Leopard, you sure know how to pack 'em."

"Sorry," Leopard said without a trace of remorse on his face or in his voice.

"Alright," Wolf said and clapped his hands twice to get their attention. "You heard Sergeant. Let's get kitted up and then meet back here later, at 1650 hours."

"Kay," Eagle slunk off down the corridor that led towards the gun storage area.

"Wait up!" that was Snake, running after Eagle to catch up wit him.

"Later," Leopard said and departed down the corridor that led to the body armour storage room. Wolf, himself, sighed and walked off towards 'extras' as people on base termed it, but what was really just spare stuff that you needed such as knives, smoke bombs, silencers, extra bullets. The usual.

**Back In The Classroom**

Alex was beginning to feel a little annoyed. MI6 should have sent men in by now at least, and he was beginning to feel a little bit wary, the people on the floor were starting to wake up---in fact the woman looked as if she was wide awake and in a deadly rage. Suddenly, a wave of pain from his arm, and if it hadn't been for his strict training, Alex would have cried out at the amount of pain it was inflicting. There was no way a normal wound would have hurt this much, the blade must have been poisoned. Now all he had to do was identify which poison it was, and find a cure for it. This was when Miss Binnag's lessons were going to come in handy. He found the blade, lying underneath the desk and with a great effort, lifted it. His arm felt as if it weighed 1000 pounds and his vision was becoming cloudy. Groggily, he searched through the medical kit for the antidotes section. Finally he gave up.

"Tom," he called quietly, but it sounded like he was shouting in the eerie silence that was settled like a blanket over the entire classroom. Tom got up from his seat and walked over to Alex.

Alex showed him the antidote section that he had managed to locate.

"Search for one that is a cure to _Sempathis Warrior,_" he said, recognizing the effects of the deadly plant far too late. (2)

Tom hurriedly searched for it and managed to find it, a small blue bottle that said, 'Take extreme care,' on the label.

"Found it!" he exclaimed proudly.

Alex was using all his willpower in focusing on what he had been taught in Miss Binnag's lessons.

"Tom, take off the lid and pour it into my mouth until I give you the signal to stop."

Only then did Tom look closely at Alex. He appeared fine at first glance, but at a closer examination he didn't look so good. A sheen of sweat covered his forehead and his eyes looked dull with pain.

"Alex?" Tom said, uneasy.

"Please Tom, just do it."

So Tom carefully tipped the contents of the blue bottle into Alex's mouth until his hand grabbed his wrist, telling him to stop. Alex closed his mouth and swallowed the vile liquid. Then shuddered at the taste and signalled for Tom to continue pouring. Three more mouthfuls later, the medicine was gone and he was starting to feel better already, his vision was getting clearer and his arms almost felt their normal weight again. He sat up straighter in his seat.

"Thank you, Miss Binnag," he said under his breath while packing away medical bottles and ointments spilt in his mad rush to find the antidote, back into the bag, but the whole class heard.

"Who's Miss Binnag?" a small bespeckled boy asked. Alex swivelled in his chair to face him.

"What's it to you?" he asked coldly.

The boy shrugged. "Just curious," he replied.

Alex considered him for a long moment.

"Fine," he said, in defeat. He'd have to tell them some time and it might as well be now, seeing as MI6 were on their coffee break or whatever.

"One at a time, you're only allowed to ask ten questions _altogether_ and put your hand up!" Alex answered the boy that had just spoken. "Miss Binnag was my plant biology teacher on Malagosto."

Alicia put her hand up. Alex nodded at her.

"How long have you been a spy?"

"Ever since my uncle was killed…uh died." Alex being distracted, still waiting on MI6 to show, answered robotically, and regretted it.

Alicia opened her mouth in shock, "Your uncle was killed?"

"Are you sure you want to waste a question on the obvious?" Alicia closed her mouth. Alex took that as a no.

Robert, a quiet boy sitting at the back of the class, put his hand up (Alex had moved his seat up to the front by this point). Alex looked at him and he took that as permission to speak.

"Have you been on a mission?"

"Yes."

"Cool!"

Amy, a brainy girl with braces and thick glasses, timidly put her hand up. Alex nodded to her.

"How many missions have you been on?"

"Seven."

William put his hand up. Alex nodded to him.

"What did you have to do on your first mission?"

Alex thought about the question and how he could get around it.

"Surveillance."

Levi put his hand up. Alex looked at him.

"Did you really get hit by a bullet in your heart?"

"Two centimetres left of it." The class looked horrified at that.

Belinda raised her hand. Alex nodded to her.

"Have you really been into outer space?"

"Yes." The class was shocked at this one, obviously not believing what the man had told them before he was knocked unconscious. Alex heard someone say 'But that's, like, a world record!'

Callum put his hand up. Alex nodded to him.

"What secret services have you worked with?"

"MI6, CIA and ASIS." Looking at his classmates confused expressions, he explained in a bit more depth. "MI6 is Military Intelligence and sector 6 is Spying but I work for the section titled 'Special Operations' or the British, CIA is Central Intelligence Agency or the Americans and ASIS is Australian Secret Intelligence Service and I'm sure you can work out who they are."

Hannah, a short girl who also took Karate, put her hand up. Alex nodded at her.

"Do you get weapons or gadgets?"

"I get a few gadgets that throw up a smokescreen, blind or stun the enemy. I once had a jungle survival kit inside a belt and a mosquito lotion that attracted them." Alex smiled at the memory. "It was very effective."

Anna raised her hand.

"What was your most recent mission?"

Alex was still reminiscing the time when he'd dumped the mosquito lotion on the guards' clothes and answered without thinking.

"I had to infiltrate a snakehead."

One of the girls gasped, "You mean like a terrorist organisation?"

Alex looked at her, fully in the present now, and deeply regretting his mistake. "Yes. What's it to you?"

"My Dad's a cop and a few of his friends came round for tea and I heard them talking about a Snakehead. They said that one has recently been brought down, and that it was really dangerous and really strong."

Alex had been keeping count of the questions asked and he knew that they had reached the limit that he had set.

"Fun's over. Ten questions up," he said and went to check on the prisoners. (He had knocked them out earlier, just as the man began to wake up in fact). They were still both out cold. Alex sighed and moved his chair back to its original position.


	3. Alex Meet Wolf, Wolf Meet Alex

**/N: Sorry! I think I forgot to put these at the bottom (see below) also; my mum grounded me from the web for a week or two or three, (Yay me! NOT!!) So there's the reason for the slow update. Pls review, I don't mind flamers, I just want your opinion! =)**

**(1) Amanda was one of the people training with Alex at Malagosto. She had forgotten what he looked like over time though.**

**(2) Sempathis Warrior is an herb I made up---sorry I didn't have…. ok ok---I couldn't be bothered to look up a deadly herb, there? He needed to take an antidote to the poison before it did too much damage. There was a mini kit of antidotes in the medical kit, which Alex located, blah blah blah, you can take it from there. **

**Thanks go to my reviewers for giving me soooo many ideas and ways to make it better. Especially blakkat09 for their review on the first chapter--- you made the whole story line soooo much better than I could have planned. I really do apologise for the confusion I caused you!!! =(**

**Chapter 3**

**Brecon Beacons**

To say that the men in the back of the military truck were angry, grumpy, cold---_freezing_ cold--- and frustrated, was a severe understatement. K-Unit had informed all the other units of the meeting time and place and told them to gear up. Every single one reported to the office on time. The sergeant had promptly told them that they would travel in army trucks due to the amount of people going. Swiftly, unit by unit, they had climbed into the trucks (there was three) and set off in the direction of Brookland---that was, until the driver of the first truck hit something and punctured a tyre, causing it to be unbalanced and go flat almost immediately. But not before the truck abruptly changed direction and decided to become a road block. As a result, all 32 units had had to disembark while the drivers helped fix the truck and currently were waiting in the rain that couldn't seem to decide if it wanted to pour or drizzle, alternating between the two, and the freezing cold wind. K-Unit, the leading Unit for this task, was in particular, extremely ill-tempered. Wolf seemed to take out his frustration on the drivers by glaring at them while they fixed the truck, making them more than a little nervous.

Snake saw this and walked over from where he had been standing, to Wolf. "Back down, buddy. Staring doesn't help them," he cautioned.

"But it makes _me_ feel better," said Wolf, so used to Snake's voice that he didn't need to turn round to see who it was.

"C'mon," Leopard, for the first time showing a sign of frustration. Eagle, who was standing near him, nearly fell over from shock and stared at Leopard for quite some time until Leopard got fed up with him and said, menacingly, "What are you looking at?"

Eagle unwisely answered, "You," and continued staring at Leopard. Leopard gaped at him uncomprehendingly, then shut his mouth quickly and put on his best emotionless face. All the other men he'd said that to had looked or walked away very, very quickly. Rolling his eyes in frustration, he turned away form Eagle having decided that he wasn't worth his time. Eagle had gotten over his shock and went back to doing what he had been doing in the first place---singing the wheels on the bus go round and round at the top of his lungs and jumping up and down on the spot to keep warm. Others were tempted to join him, but they didn't want to look like idiots so they refrained. Wolf, however, was only tempted to march over to Eagle and whack him until he shut up and stayed that way (Eagle didn't exactly have a good singing voice). The only thing that was stopping him was that **A)** although Eagle acted like an idiot, he was actually quite the strategist on the off chance that he was sane and they would more than likely need him later on and **B) **Eagle would hopefully wear out his voice and energy so that later on he wouldn't be so hyper. So Wolf clenched his teeth and put his fingers in his ears and bore the pain along with the majority of the other SAS men near Eagle.

"Uh.. sir?" Wolf looked towards the voice. He'd been so distracted by Eagle that he'd forgotten to glare at the drivers/mechanics.

"Yes?" he said, glaring at the driver that had addressed him.

The driver swallowed nervously. He had a family of 7 to feed and that was why he worked as a driver for he SAS, but that didn't mean that they didn't scare him. He swallowed again visibly and said, "Your men can get on board now, the problem has been fixed."

Inwardly, Wolf jumped for joy but on the outside he merely nodded his head in acknowledgement of what the man had said and lessened his glare. A little bit.

"Listen up!" he shouted. Immediately there was quiet. "We can re-embark. I want every unit back in their former position in 10, 9, 8, 7…."

Wolf continued to count down as different units scrambled onto the trucks in record time. Wolf's temper was infamous around base, but for the wrong reasons, or the right ones depending on how you look at it. Wolf did one last sweep of the area to ensure that they hadn't left anything behind then climbed onto his unit's truck and they set off for Brookland again.

**In The Classroom**

To Alex, the silence was unnerving. This was school. It was NEVER this quiet. There was always someone in the back row or wherever whispering or tapping their pen or something, but today there was absolute silence. It was not to remain so for long. The still silence was shattered by the sound of vehicles drawing up outside. Alex's heart contracted. Spy or no, he still reacted to fear. How many times had he felt like this before? It wasn't fair. He was outnumbered, him assuming that the Scorpia agents had somehow called for backup or something (he had long ago given up the hope that MI6 were coming) and he was injured. It just wasn't fair. Silently, Alex crept out of his seat and over towards the window. He peered out the window, and blinked. Because unless he needed glasses, which he was sure he didn't, the three trucks that were pulled up outside were SAS army trucks. Unit by unit they poured out of the trucks and immediately stationed themselves behind places that provided adequate shelter in complete silence. The two Scorpia men who had been assigned to watch the door had also heard the trucks draw up and now they went to investigate. There was a chatter of machine gun fire and screams, and then it was quiet again. An SAS man stepped out from behind the wall he had been taking cover behind.

Alex recognised him immediately. He would have known that profile and build anywhere. Lucky him. His saviour turned out to be none other than Wolf. As he watched, three more men emerged from where Wolf had just come from. Alex recognised the blond as Snake and the brown haired short man as Eagle but he was unfamiliar with the third who was tall and broad with a darkened complexion and black hair. He must be Fox's replacement. Quietly he crept back over, and into, his seat.

Alex knew he had only moments to act. He reached into his school bag again and pulled out another briefcase, but this one was filled with dyes, false teeth, scissors of all shapes and sizes, wigs and latex faces---basically all the equipment you needed to change your appearance. There was even a camera that gave you the photo as soon as you took it and a fake passport. Alex selected a dark brown hair dye. It read 'Rub in thoroughly and give five minutes drying time.' He dumped some of the gloop on his palm and smeared it on his hair, and grimaced. He really didn't want to so this but he couldn't risk Wolf finding out who he was. He didn't have to change his name. K-Unit knew him only as 'Cub', so he was safe in that category.

Alex smeared some more on his hair and eyebrows and then used a skin dye to make his complexion olive toned. To put the finishing touch on, he slipped red contacts into his eyes that would react with the brown to make them appear green**.(1)** Then he packed away all the stuff he had used and put it back in the bag.

He looked up to find his classmates staring at him.

"Awesome," said Tom. "Do you have platinum blond? I've always wanted to dye my hair platinum blond."

Alex smiled gratefully at Tom for diffusing the tension in the classroom. "Please don't remark on my change of appearance in front of the SAS men," he said.

"Cool! Wait are they actually SAS?" said Tom, nearly jumping up and down in excitement.

"Stay down!" hissed Alex, then turned to address the whole class. "Listen, all of you. When these men walk in the door, do NOT discuss what I have just told you with them. If they ask you a question---answer, otherwise keep your mouth shut and look frightened. "

Personally, Alex thought that his last instruction wouldn't be too hard to execute as half of his classmates looked terrified at the mention of the SAS in the first place. He sighed and slouched in his chair as a normal teenager would. He grinned wryly at the thought of that, Alex Rider, a normal schoolboy. Somehow, it didn't quite fit.

Two minutes later the door banged audibly against the wall, making most of the class jump after sitting in quiet for so long, and 4 SAS men filed into the room, guns drawn, one after the other.

"Nobody move!" the man said. Alex nearly sighed. In his mind he said 'Welcome to Brookland, Wolf.'

**SAS's findings**

Wolf was confused. He had kept in contact with the other teams by radio and, so far, they had found nothing that could have been described as useful to MI6. Unless they were planning on taking extra lessons in various subjects, that is. Or going to blow something up and needed chemicals. But most of the things here were basic chemicals, not things that you could use to blow something major up.

Wolf's mind was in overdrive. What if the thing that MI6 wanted so much was an operative? One of the teachers could be an undercover agent he supposed.

"Right! Does everyone copy?" 31 murmurs of 'yes sir' sounded in his ear, one for each unit. "MI6 could be looking for an agent of theirs, maybe one of the teachers, so treat them well and any teacher you find alive (Wolf's unit had already burst into various other classrooms and the result was the same for every one, the teacher was found dead on the floor----age or gender didn't seem to matter, all were dead.) Bring to the assembly hall and PROTECT them. Do you copy?"

Again Wolf got 31 'yes sirs!' in his ear.

"Good!" he grunted and then put his radio away. Silently he signalled to the rest of K-Unit. They crept along the corridor until they reached the door. Wolf took a deep breath and burst into the last classroom. All the other rooms had been empty of children but he was sure that he had heard a noise coming from this direction.

**Alex and Wolf meet face to face except Wolf has no idea who he is**

"Nobody move!" Wolf shouted as he entered the classroom, he knew Eagle was right behind him followed by Leopard, and Snake bringing up the rear. Alex watched them carefully. Wolf looked slightly different, older in a way. There was more menace in his aura than there had been before, you could say, he supposed.

Wolf studied the kids in front of them. None of them looked important or even remotely interesting or remarkable. He glanced towards the teacher's desk and almost jumped. He was staring at two of the highest Scorpia operatives. The only thing he hadn't anticipated was seeing them bound, gagged and unconscious on the floor. To say that he was a bit impressed was an understatement. Wolf stepped closer to take a look, signalling at the same time for Eagle and Leopard to keep watch on the class. Then he beckoned Snake over. Snake gave them a quick once over, assessing their injuries. At the end of it, he looked mildly impressed.

"They've both been knocked out. The woman has slight bruising starting to appear and the man is fine as far as I can see."

Wolf nodded his head in agreement. He trusted Snake with his life, seeing as the Scotsman's verdict had saved his life before. "Go assess the teacher." He ordered.

"Dead," confirmed Snake from across the room. "Gunshot wound to the head. He died almost immediately."

Wolf stood up. Alex was a little bit apprehensive now. Now that Wolf had seen the captives, he was bound to be curious about who had tied them up.

Sure enough, Wolf surveyed the room again. There was one kid that seemed to stand out to him. He had dark brown hair, an olive toned complexion and green eyes, Wolf was positive that he'd never seen him before in his life---but then why did he seem so familiar? Maybe it was being around schoolchildren that reminded him of Cub.

Although Wolf would probably never admit it, he'd admired Cub, in a way, for taking all the stick that he and the old K-Unit had given him and not crumbling to dust and watching him at that academy---the kid was good, he'd give him that.

_I wonder where he is now?_ thought Wolf.

His thoughts snapped back to the present with the sound of someone coughing. Alex had seen Wolf staring at him and reacted as all spies do.

Rule number one---**hide your face.** So he'd bent his torso over his knees and done a stunning impression of a hacking cough. Tom was patting him on the back and saying quietly, "Alex? Do you need a drink?"

So that was the kid's name. Alex, thought Wolf. Nope, don't know any Alex. Alex nearly sighed in relief as Wolf's gaze concentrated itself on something else.

"Listen up," Wolf said, his voice low and dangerous. "You're going to tell me who did this to the captives and then you are going to sit quietly until I tell you that it's time to move. Got it?" Most of the class said yes and a few nodded their heads.

Wolf gave them time to respond. When no answer was forthcoming, he yelled at them, "Well? Who did it?"

A few girls whimpered and one fainted. Most of the boys went pale and cowered behind each other. Wolf noted that the one called Alex didn't have a reaction at all.

By this point Alex had given up pretending to be a normal teenager and just sat there. He could see Wolf's temper was mounting, so he spoke up quietly.

"I did."

Wolf whipped his head around to see the boy, Alex, looking at him with a hint of amusement in his eyes.

Alex smiled to himself. It was so much fun to see the incredulous look that Wolf gave him. The Wolf he knew would have glared at him and suppressed his emotion. And there it was. The infamous Wolf glare.

"What's your name kid?" Wolf asked, knowing the answer already but wanting to find out his surname. Maybe he was the kid of one of his friends?

"Alex Rider," Alex replied a little worried that K-Unit might have, by some miracle, be able to find out his name. His worry was ungrounded though as Wolf simply grunted and said, "And you did this all by yourself, did you? How?"

Alex thought quickly.

"I take karate classes," he ventured.

"Hnn."

Well Wolf's social habits hadn't changed then. Alex suddenly became very aware of Leopard, Snake and Eagle's gazes on him. By this point Wolf was doing another search of the room.

Alex put up his hand.

"Uhhh…sir? Excuse me, sir?"

Wolf glanced at Alex.

"May I please send my guardian an email?"

Wolf couldn't see the harm in that so he nodded his head and went back to the search, speaking into his radio and informing the other teams that they had entered the last classroom and nothing was there apart from two unconscious Scorpia members and an uninjured class.

Meanwhile, Alex reached into his bag and brought out the laptop again. His message to MI6 went something like this…

_Please send real agent to pick me up. Can't risk blowing cover to SAS operatives here. I am fine and unharmed apart from a small injury. Please send agent quickly._

Alex hit the send button, packed away his laptop and waited. There wasn't much else that he could do.

"Alright. Listen up!" said Wolf.

Alex wondered if he had OCD **(2)** around that phrase.

"I am going to take you down to the assembly hall. When you get there I want you to sit down in alphabetical order---not with your friends. Now move!"

**Liverpool Street, The Royal and General Bank, office room: 1210**

Mrs Jones sighed as she walked towards another one of her superior's offices. Mr Blunt would not be happy with the fact that Alex Rider had e-mailed them twice today. She knocked on the door and entered without waiting for permission. Mr Blunt was typing away at a laptop. She put the printed out email on the remainder of the desk that was not taken up by it. He stopped typing immediately, picked it up and read it. At last he spoke.

"Have you managed to make contact with Daniels yet?"

"Yes. We made contact at approximately 1655 hours."

"Good. I have a new job for him. He is to uncover what Scorpia stood to gain by this exercise at Alex's school. And speaking of Alex, we simply cannot send him back there. Scorpia may strike again---and this time they will know that he's there. I want you to send him back to Brecon Beacons for protection, and some extra training won't hurt him, just until we know what Scorpia wants from his school."

"I'll reply immediately, sir. Oh, and Alan?"

Mr Blunt looked up from the computer once again. "Yes?"

"Who shall we send to retrieve him?"

Alan Blunt weighed all the options in his head and came to a conclusion. "Send Agent Thompson."

**Back at Brooklands**

Wolf marched down the corridor. At his side was Eagle and behind him were a bunch of whining, snivelling, snot nosed kids who had done nothing but slow him down. After them came Leopard and Snake.

Finally! The assembly hall was just ahead of him now. If Wolf hadn't known better, he would have sworn that the assembly purposely moved to different areas in the school, just to annoy him.

Alex, who was at the back of the group and walking alongside Tom, was laughing his head off. It was just so amusing to see K-Unit at his school and getting ticked off at the pace that his class was moving at. Admittedly, he'd been helping it along of course, lagging behind at the back purposely.

Leopard and Snake couldn't quite make out the kid in front of them. Every time it seemed they were going to pick up the pace, the kid would purposely slow down, it seemed and then, when Wolf turned around with a glare on his face to see who was holding them back, he would pick up the pace again. But what confused them the most was the kid's sudden outbursts of laughter seemingly at nothing but Wolf's expression.

Which even they didn't find funny---there was nothing laughable about Wolf's glare in the slightest. So why did this kid find it so amusing?

Alex smothered his laughter at the look of relief on Wolf's face as he turned around and announced that the assembly was right in front of them.

Wolf opened the doors of the assembly hall and led them through it.

"Sit down, now! Good children! Now I want you in alphabetical order in 10, 9, 8, 7, 6....." said Wolf with a grin on his face as he watched the kids scramble around to get into alphabetical order before the big, bad Wolf blew his top. He was about to start yelling at them when another man strolled into the hall.

Alex immediately assessed the man. He was of medium height and build with dirty blond hair and green eyes. He was wearing a dark blue suit and a gun in an ankle holster. Alex could tell by the slight bulge in his right leg and the way he favoured his right leg, but just slightly. The man probably wasn't even aware that he was favouring it. Alex had such a trained eye that in a few minutes he could see what others failed to see. That this man was his contact.

Wolf watched the man suspiciously as he crossed the room towards him.

"I'm here to pick up Alex Rider. Could you please tell me where he is?" said Agent Thompson, completely unaware that Alex Rider was trying to hide his identity at the moment and in the same room.

Wolf's eyes snapped to Alex. He was the only one so far with the surname Rider. But before Wolf had a chance to open his mouth, Alex was walking over to the Agent, all pretence of even being an insane (to Eagle and Leopard) or normal teenager gone.

"Name?"

The man looked shocked at being addressed like this by a teenager. "Pardon me?" he said blinking.

"I'm Alex Rider. Name?"

The man was very taken aback at having a kid walk up to him and speak to him like that. They were very keen on manners at the Bank.

He'd been told that he was collecting an Alex Rider, a 14 year old kid with sandy blond hair and brown eyes. The boy in font of him was the right height but nothing else fit.

"Thompson," he replied, humouring Alex, thinking that this kid was absolutely off his rocker.

Alex nodded his head slowly, and then snapped out, "Level of clearance?"

"6," the man said, answering automatically to the authority in Alex's voice. "But I don't' know you. And how do you know about clearance?"

Alex sighed. "Does anyone have a bottle of water?"

Tom did. Alex walked over to him and then unscrewed the lid and dumped it over his head.

Wolf stared in amazement, then quickly recovered himself and went on glaring at nothing in particular---the boy standing before him now had blond hair, with a few brown streaks though it. He looked so much like Cub it was uncanny. He would have almost believed it _was_ Cub apart from the complexion and eye colour. Then Alex held out his hand and Tom put his second water bottle in it. Tom always carried a minimum of 2 water bottles with him. He was on a new diet that recommened that you drank a lot of water.

Alex splashed some on his face and then gripped his hairline and pulled of his complexion. (Like a face mask! =)

Alex turned to the man-Agent Thompson. "Are you _happy now_?"

Thompson looked Alex up and down slowly, then reached inside his blazer and drew out a picture of the kid he was supposed to collect. They looked identical---it must be him, or a very good replica but for one thing….

"Alex Rider has brown eyes."

"Whoops!" Alex had clean forgotten about his eyes. Quickly he took out the contacts. Agent Thompson nodded, completely reassured that this was Alex Rider now.

Wolf started, then scowled. "Cub."

Alex grinned wryly.

"Wolf," he acknowledged.

"The car is this way," Agent Thompson said and began walking out of the hall.

"Wait!" Alex called out after him. "The rest of the school and my class. What will happen to them?"

"I have no idea, but I do know that they will be looked after and protected."

Alex picked up his bag that he had managed to smuggle out of the classroom under the SAS men's noses and followed the man out the doors leading to the playground, got into the waiting car and was driven off towards the bank.

**A/N:**

**Soooo....???? What did'ya think of chapter three. Yay --- easter break---chocolate and no school and fanfiction! Life doesn't get any better. Pls R+R**

I actually have no idea if that is what you get by mixing brown with red but I can be creative… right?

OCD= obsessive compulsive disorder/ OR (if you're a twilight fan) obsessive cullen disorder---but we'll stick to the first one for this fic.


	4. You've reached the Royal and General

**A/N: pls R+R**

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**Chapter 4**

**Welcome to the Royal and General-What can we do for you?**

The car pulled up at the Royal and General Bank. Alex got out and walked into the foyer. He walked past the 'receptionist' who nodded politely in his direction, and sat down in a chair. They would send someone to retrieve him soon.

He didn't have to wait long. The elevator 'dinged' not five minutes after he had sat down. It opened to reveal Mrs Jones. She stepped out of it, her heels tapping against the floor as she walked towards where he was sitting.

"Alex, I hope you're well? Oh and you can leave that here," she said, indicating to the bag he still held in his hand. "Judy will look after it."

"Mrs Jones."

Alex had quickly learned that greetings of any form were lost on people in the business. He got up, leaving the bag behind, and walked beside her to the elevator. He reached over and pressed the call button for up. It took the elevator a few minutes to arrive, which Alex spent looking at the doors. It arrived with another 'ding'. Alex stepped in and Mrs Jones followed.

She pressed the button for the 7th floor. Alex raised his eyebrows. That was the offices numbered in the 1000s-1300s. **(1)** They rode in silence and disembarked at the 7th level. Mrs Jones led him to the office marked 1210. She rapped on it once with the back of her knuckles and opened it without waiting for a response.

Alex entered the room after Mrs Jones. Mr Blunt spoke for the first time.

"Alex, please take a seat."

Alex sat in silence. He had a type of respect for Mrs Jones in a strange way, maybe trying to kill that someone does that to you. But for Mr. Blunt, he had nothing but disgust and hatred.

"As I'm sure you're aware, Scorpia attacked your school today," began Mr Blunt.

"Really? What was your first clue?" Alex asked, sarcastically.

"Alex…" said Mrs Jones reprimanded as Mr Blunt's expression tightened.

Alex sat in quiet again, he wasn't going to apologize. When someone says sorry, they mean they'll try not to do it again. Nope, Alex most certainly was NOT going to apologize.

"As I was saying," said Mr. Blunt, his face expressionless once more, "Scorpia attacked your school today. Unfortunately, we have been unable to establish a motive for the attack. We are confident that it was not purely a hostage situation and as I'm sure you've perceived, they were taking note of people's abilities. We have one of our best agents onto the matter right at this moment but as you experienced before, Scorpia are very fond of revenge and will most likely attempt to assassinate you. Ms Starbright is already on a plane to Washington DC as we speak," said Blunt, seeing the question in Alex's eyes. "She didn't want to leave without saying goodbye, but it was the only flight in four days. She did, however, leave a note for you."

Blunt handed him a sheet of A4 paper folded in half. Alex nodded his thanks and pocketed it, saving it for later when he could read it in privacy. Blunt was speaking again and Alex switched his attention back to him.

"As a consequence, we are sending you to an SAS camp I think you're familiar with. Brecon Beacons. You will resume training with your old Unit."

Alex felt years older just listening to Blunt's 'helpful' solution to this predicament. K-Unit was his own type of devil-never mind Scorpia. Blunt obviously was oblivious to the fact that by sending him to Brecon Beacons, he was doing Scorpia's job for them. K-Unit were more likely to kill him on the spot or run him down until he was dead, rather than protect him. While Alex wrestled with himself to keep the emotion off his face, Blunt had carried on.

Alex interrupted him.

"I have one request."

"Yes?" Blunt said, his face emotionless, even though Alex knew that he was probably very angry at him for interrupting.

"I want no details of my missions in my file, because I know that you're going to give it to them. No, wait, I want you to give me my file and I will take out what I think isn't necessary."

Blunt carefully assessed Alex. He could tell from the boy's body language that Alex wasn't giving up on this point.

"I also want to be able to take some extra lessons- I would like to organise my timetable for the time I'm there. Could I please have a copy of it?"

Blunt nodded his assent. "Mrs Jones? Could you please fetch the files required?"

Mrs Jones, who had been silent throughout the whole exchange, nodded and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

There was an awkward silence in the room as Alex looked at everything but Blunt and Mr Blunt looked everywhere but Alex.

Mrs Jones returned after a few minuets carrying a slim file and a very thick file. She placed them on the desk and went to stand behind Mr Blunt.

"Please tell me the thick file isn't my timetable?" said Alex in a poor attempt of humour.

"On the contrary, Alex. The thicker one is your file and the thin one is your timetable."

Alex sighed. Sarcasm went to such waste on Blunt.

"We'll send a car to fetch you from your house. You will be collected at the bank in 2 hours by a representative of your Unit. You have until then to organise everything you need. A car is waiting downstairs to take you to your house."

Mrs Jones walked towards the door and opened it. "Alex?" she said.

Alex walked towards and out through the door. Before it swung shut, Alex distinctly heard the sound of clattering keys.

Mr Blunt was typing away, Alex already forgotten.

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**Brecon Beacons**

"Hey, Wolf! Wolf!"

Wolf grunted in irritation and picked up the pace of his jog.

His day was going fabulously. First he had to go rescue some kids from Scorpia, and one of them turned out to be Cub who had knocked out two Scorpia agents. Then when he _FINALLY_ escaped and got back to base, he was informed by the Sergeant that MI6 were sending one of their top agents in for a little more training and---even better---that agent was going to train with his Unit.

Yep, life didn't get any better. Oh no. Wait, he'd forgotten the most important thing, the cherry on top of the ice-cream---he had to go collect the agent!

"Wolf!" Eagle called again. "So when do you leave? When will you be back? Who do you think they're sending? I heard it was one of their best agents-who do you think that is?"

"Eagle! I have no idea!" shouted Wolf, his patience hitting rock bottom. Eagle looked a bit taken aback.

Wolf sighed and stopped jogging.

"I'm just fed up," he said by way of apology.

Eagle, knowing that this was probably the only type of apology he was going to get from Wolf said, "Yeh, I guess I would be fed up to, if had to go collect the agent as well as do everything else that happened today."

"Where's Leopard and Snake?" Wolf asked, turning the conversation off him.

"Leopard's busy on the shooting range and Snake's lecturing to other Units' medics about bullet wounds," Eagle said.

"Hnn," Wolf grunted.

"I'll see you later-with the new recruit!" shouted Eagle, as he jogged off in the opposite direction that Wolf was meant to be jogging in.

"Hnn," Wolf grunted to himself and resumed jogging.

**Liverpool Street**

Alex stepped off the footpath and into the waiting car. The driver didn't comment on anything and Alex decided that it was better if he didn't. It gave him some time to organise his thoughts.

First things first. He had to get a folder and put all the info he was going to take out of his file in. Then he had top pack, ensuring that everything he took was generic, no certain brands or labels. And then he would call Jack on the number Mrs Jones had given him before he walked out of the foyer.

The car pulled up outside his house. Alex stepped out without a remark. The driver floored the accelerator and disappeared around the corner at the end of his street.

Alex climbed the steps to his house. He used the key underneath the 13th flowerpot to the left to unlock the door. Alex smiled as he remembered Jack's explanation as to what she doing.

"_You never know if you'll come back from a mission or something and I might not be here. I might be out shopping or something. Now I couldn't leave you unprotected on the street. Your latest enemy night take that as an invitation to kidnap you."_

"_Yeah, but Jack, how am I going to remember where the key is?" Alex had asked._

"_Easy, silly. It's under the 13__th__ flowerpot to the left of the door. 13 because it is supposed to be unlucky and so far, we've lucked out," she said, referring to their situation with MI6. "And left because in the olden times, people who wrote with their left hand were considered servants of the devil. So they were also unlucky."_

_Alex had grinned wryly at her reasoning and given her a hug._

He closed the door behind him and walked into the kitchen. It was, as usual, a mess. Jack had evidently not had time to clean up before she left. Luckily, Alex knew everything about cooking and cleaning. His Uncle Ian had taught him how to cook and clean, even if it was an unorthodox method.

The first time, Ian had gone off to a 'conference' for three weeks and left Alex all alone. Alex hadn't touched anything for a day or so, but after two days of not eating, Alex had given into temptation, gotten some money out of Ian's tin on the kitchen shelf and gone shopping. After that, Alex had learned that the only way to survive was to fend for himself and quickly taught himself how to cook and clean.

He hadn't applied those skills for a while though. When Alex was 10, Ian had hired Jack. **(1)**At first, Alex was in denial. He didn't need a nanny.

Jack herself had seemed pretty amazed that this 10 year old boy knew more about cooking than she did. Eventually Alex accepted her, when he saw that she wasn't going to leave.

He sat down in a chair at the table after dumping the files on the tabletop and read the note she had given him.

Alex, I know I don't have very much time to write this, two men with dark suits are staring at me while I do. I'm so sorry I didn't get to say goodbye. I'm going to miss you. I'm going to stay with my parents, so I'll be fine---look after yourself. MI6 agents said that you're being sent to a safe place. There're a few frozen dinners in the freezer if you want to take them with you. I've also left a little something for you in my bedroom. I doubt I'll be able to write to you, Scorpia might intercept it. Yes they told me about what happened.

Keep yourself safe, all my love

**Jack xxxx**

Alex climbed the stairs slowly, wondering what Jack would have left him. He walked along the hallway and into her bedroom. It was bare apart from a few non-essentials. On the bedside cabinet was a picture of Alex, Ian and Jack. They were both laughing into the camera's lenses. It had been taken a few weeks before Ian's death. Alex thought he'd lost it. Jack had obviously found it and treasured it. This must be what she left him. She made an improvement to the frame though. It was one that Alex had made for Jack for mother's day back when he was ten.

Along the bottom of it, she had written,

_The night is always darkest before the dawn._

Alex picked it up and walked into his room. Quickly he dragged his suitcase out from underneath his bed. It was the same one he had used when he and Ian had gone to Germany, France and Spain.

He opened his wardrobe and started packing his clothes. Then he moved onto things he would need. Alex knelt beside his bedside cabinet and emptied everything out of the bottom drawer. When that was done, Alex pulled on a piece of string now visible. The bottom of the drawer sprung open. Alex took everything there. It contained all the gadgets he had used on his missions. He knew it was strange of him, but for some reason he couldn't explain, he couldn't get rid of them.

He put them all into a sealed plastic baggie and placed it at the bottom of his suitcase, underneath piles of neatly folded clothes.

He traipsed back downstairs and collected his files and schoolbag that he had collected off Judy on the way out. Then he made his way back upstairs. He checked his watch once he reached his room. He only had and hour and a half left!

He put his bag into the suitcase; he would probably need his schoolbooks and the like for catching up on.

Settling down on his bed, Alex opened the first file, HIS file.

The file was divided up into sections labelled---Stormbreaker, Point Blanc Academy, Skeleton Key, Damian Cray/Air Force One, Scorpia, Ark Angel/ Nikolei Drevin and the last one titled Snakehead.

Alex quickly removed all those files and was surprised how much less bulkier his file was by that. He was left with a slimmer file that was a fact sheet on him, he supposed.

He opened it up. First there were numerous pictures of him growing up. He removed all those. K-Unit knew what he looked like now, and that was all they needed to know he looked like.

Behind the photos was a sheet that went something like this

'**Agent Alex Rider---MI6 (SO)'**

**Name: Alex John Rider**

**Age: 14**

**Family: Deceased (see Snakehead and Stormbreaker)**

**Guardian: Jacqueline Ann Starbright**

**Physical description: White**

**Blond hair, brown eyes. **

**~5ft 6ins**

**Health: In shape though agent might be affected by injury (see Scorpia).**

**Special abilities: 1****st**** Dan in Karate, SAS training (see Stormbreaker). Agent can**

**also fire most types of gun---ninja training (see Scorpia). Fluent**

**in Spanish, French and German. Almost fluent in Japanese. **

**Also speaks a few words of Italian. Is a qualified diver and has**

**been white water rafting, canoeing, mountain climbing, wind**

**surfing, snowboarding and a good swimmer. ****(2)**

**Missions: 5---agent undertook 2 others willingly (see Damian Cray/Air Force **

**One and Scorpia)**

**Secret Services: Agent has worked with ASIS, CIA and MI6. **

**Current Status: Available**

Alex stared at the page; this was bad---very bad. He walked downstairs and switched on the computer. He put the page in the scanner and tapped his finger impatiently against the mouse as it scanned into the computer. Alex quickly went to work and 5 minutes later, he had a new and improved copy of his 'fact sheet'. Except this one read.

**Agent Alex Rider---MI6 (SO)**

**Name: Alex John Rider**

**Age: 14**

**Guardian: Miss J. Starbright**

**Physical description: White**

**Blond hair, brown eyes. **

**~5ft 6ins**

**Health: In shape.**

**Special abilities: 1****st**** Dan in Karate and has brief SAS training. **

**Missions: Classified**

**Current Status: Available.**

Alex compared the two. Much better. He turned off his computer and disassembled the hard drive **(3).**

He took different pieces from it and hid them in various places around the house just to make sure nobody could put it together again. He checked his watch again. He had 45 minutes left.

He slotted the new sheet into the file and transferred the other one into the growing pile of things that he was not going to put in his file. He picked up the other one—the one on his timetable---or rather K-Unit's timetable. They'd also given him a blank one, Alex noticed. One for him to fill in.

Alex settled down on his bed once more. He supposed he'd better do the group work activities. He looked over their timetable. It went…

**Timetalbe for Unit---K**

**(****Wolf - leader, Eagle, Snake and Leopard****)**

**Monday:- 0600---Breakfast**

**0630---Backwater Trail Hike**

**0800---Language (as specified-Spanish/ French/ German)**

**1000---Martial Art (as specified-Karate/ Ju Jitsu/ Judo/ Tae Kwando) **

**1130---Jungle Survival Exercise**

**1300---Hostage Situation Lecture**

**1400---First Aid**

**1530---Two Kilometre Swim**

**1700---Dinner**

**1730---Night Stake Out Exercise**

**2000---Therapy/ Counsellor**

**2200---Bed**

**Tuesday:- 0600---Breakfast**

**0630---Red Herring Hike**

**0845---Day Stake Out Exercise**

**1015---Killing House Exercise**

**1300---Entering a Guarded Building Lecture**

**1400---Gun Lecture**

**1500---Target Practice/ Shooting Range**

**1800---Dinner**

**1830---Language (as specified-Spanish/ French/ German)**

**2030---Therapy/ Counsellor**

**2100---Bed**

**Wednesday:-0600---Breakfast**

**0630---Cabin Inspection**

**0645---Martial Art (as specified-Karate/ Ju Jitsu/ Judo/ Tae**

**Kwando)**

**0815---Two Kilometre Swim- 15 minute rest time allowed**

**1000---Therapy/ Counsellor**

**1100--- 5km Hike (Wooded Hike)**

**1230---Shooting Range/ Target Practice**

**1530---Fitness (gym)**

**1700---Language (as specified-Spanish/ French/ German)**

**1900---Dinner**

**1930---Medical Lecture**

**2100---Bed**

**Thursday:-0600---Breakfast**

**0630---Language (as specified-Spanish/ French/ German)**

**0830---Two Kilometre Swim**

**1000---Therapy/ Counsellor**

**1200---Gun Lecture**

**1300---Target Practice/ Shooting Range**

**1600---Martial Art (as specified- Karate/ Ju Jitsu/ Judo/ Tae**

**Kwando)**

**1730---First Aid**

**1900---Dinner**

**1930---Fitness (gym)**

**2100---Bed**

**Friday:-0600---Breakfast**

**0630---Cabin Inspection**

**0645---Language (as specified- Spanish/ French/ German)**

**0845---Therapy/ Counsellor**

**0900---Killing Hoise Exercise **

**1145---Fitness (gym)-15 minutes rest time allowed**

**1330---Martial Art (as specified-Karate/ Ju Jitsu/ Judo/ Tae Kwando)**

**1500---Day Stake Out Exercise**

**1730---One Kilometre Hike (Wildcat Ridge Hike)**

**2000---Dinner**

**2030---Bed**

**Saturday:-0600---Breakfast**

**0630---Parachuting/ Base Jumping (as specified)**

**2000---Bed**

**Sunday:-Day Off**

Alex let out a sigh. What had he gotten himself into? He looked over it again, thinking that something was missing in each case---oh yes. Lunch. Apparently, SAS men didn't need lunch. He'd almost forgotten about that.

Alex checked his watch again. Fifteen minutes. He began transferring details into his timetable.

Alex's finished timetable was a lot like K-Unit's but with a few changes. He didn't go to the shooting range when they did---instead he went when they had counselling.

Alex didn't transfer counselling onto his schedule. If there was one thing he _REALLY_ hated---it was therapists and people trying to take over the world.

There also was no Killing House Exercises on his copy. Alex thought he'd had enough experience in that area.

Alex went into Jack's bedroom again. He opened her chest of drawers, which were now empty, save a few folder files. He picked one up and then went back into his room. Quickly he shoved all the excess information on him into that folder.

Alex then zipped up his suitcase and checked his gun was still on his leg. He carried the suitcase downstairs and set it down in the hall.

Alex then went into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of pills from the cupboard above the sink. They were his pain meds for the bullet wound. He hadn't really felt the need to take them and so they had sat in the cupboard, forgotten until now. Alex had a strange feeling he was going to need them, knowing where he was headed.

He heard the noise of a car pulling up outside and immediately was on his guard. He peeked out the window to see what looked like the exact same car that head brought him home, park at the curb.

The same driver got out. He walked up to the door and rang the doorbell.

Alex answered the door before the man's finger had left the button.

"My suitcase is over there," said Alex, pointing the direction he had left his suitcase in.

The driver nodded and went to collect it. Alex went through the house closing windows and locking doors. It was strange, but Alex flet lke he'd never see this house before, as if this was a final goodbye.

He reached the hallway and walked to the front door. The driver was busy loading his suitcase into the car. Alex closed the door with a soft thump and locked it. He didn't bother putting the key back under the flowerpot, Jack already had a key.

Alex walked down the steps, pocketing the key as he went. The driver managed to fit his suitcase into the back of the car and was getting into the driver's seat. Alex walked over and slid into the backseat.

As they drove away, Alex twisted in his seat to get one last good look at his home, and then they went around a corner and it was no longer in sight. Alex leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. He remained like this until the car stopped. Alex sat up and opened his eyes, grateful for the dark tint on the windows.

The driver unloaded his suitcase and drove off. Alex lifted it easily in one hand; he had packed light, and walked into the Bank for the second time today.

He entered the foyer to see Mrs Jones waiting for him.

"Ah, Alex. You're right on time. The representative should be here any minute now."

Alex just nodded and sat down, his suitcase beside him. Sure enough there was the sound of a car pulling up outside and then a man entered the lobby.

Alex groaned and put his head in his hands. Of all the people they could send to collect him, they WOULD send Wolf.

"I'm here to collect an agent. I'm from the SAS," Wolf said to the receptionist, it wasn't Judy, who looked at him blankly.

Mrs Jones cleared her throat and Wolf looked over towards her.

"He's right here, Wolf," said Mrs Jones.

Wolf started a little at his name being used but walked over to her.

Alex had chosen his seat carefully. It couldn't be seem from door or the reception desk, so all Wolf could see was Mrs Jones and a suitcase. The Wolf walked around the desk.

"Cub?" he said. "No way! You are not one of MI6's top agents!"

Mrs Jones cleared her throat again. Wolf looked at her. "This is some sort of trick, right?"

"Agent Rider has been invaluable to us. He is indeed on of our highest ranking agents at the moment. And we expect you to take good care of him."

Alex was surprised at what Mrs Jones had said but showed nothing of it on his face.

"Alex, do you have the files we gave you earlier?" Mrs Jones asked.

As a reply, Alex handed her the new and improved files. Mrs Jones raised her eyebrows at how thin they were but made no comment. She handed them to Wolf.

"These contain information on Agent Rider. You may read it if you wish."

Alex then handed her the folder containing the files K-Unit wouldn't be looking at. Again Mrs Jones raised her eyebrows but this time at the width of them.

"I hope you will be safe, Alex," she said, by way of parting.

Alex simply nodded again and picked up his suitcase then spoke for the first time in Wolf's vicinity.

"Where to?"

"The jeep's out front," Wolf grunted and walked out of the foyer.

Alex followed, wishing ofr the hundredth time that when the chance to go to Venice had come up, he kept his mouth shut.

Wolf got in the driver's seat. Alex looked at him apprehensively, not entirely sure that he trusted his driving.

Wolf just grinned a, well, wolfish grin and said, "Get in."

Alex sighed quietly to himself and got in, shutting the door behind him. As the jeep began to move, Alex felt a rising panic but forced it down and kept it form showing on his face.

Goodbye heaven, Welcome Hell.

**********************************************************************************************************************************************

**A/N: ouch!!!! My fingers hurt! That was a long chapter. Pls R+R**

**I have no idea if that is true or not-I'm making it up as I go along.**

**I am combining the book and the movie here and I'm not sure if the majority of that is true----sorry. **

**I have no idea if it's even possible to disable a hard drive.**


	5. Welcome Back As if!

**Chapter 5**

**Welcome home!---As if.**

They sat in an uncomfortable silence during the trip back. Alex stared straight ahead through the windshield the whole way there. He saw Wolf shoot him a few looks out of his peripheral vision, but didn't comment on it.

Alex had thought that things had changed between him and Wolf, after Alex saved his butt in training and then at Academy Point Blanc---Wolf had even sent him a postcard when he'd had 'appendicitis.' But apparently it had to be a long distance friendship, if it was a friendship in the first place.

Wolf in his turn was watching Alex, noting the differences, the wariness in his eyes and the muscles on him.

It was dark by the time they finally arrived. Wolf parked the jeep and took the keys out of the ignition.

"Time to move," he said, and when Alex didn't budge, he translated. "Get out," and proceeded to do so, slamming the jeep's door with more force than was necessary.

Alex jumped down agilely and hefted his suitcase down after him. Wolf began walking towards one of the huts, which Alex thought was the Sergeant's, but he wasn't positive in the dark. Stifling a yawn, he followed Wolf before he got lost. It had been some time since he'd been back on campus, and he didn't want to run into any SAS soldiers in the dark with no explanation.

They reached the door of the hut. Wolf knocked on it two times and waited before a voce called out 'enter' before opening it. Alex recognised that voice and now he was positive that this was the Sergeant's hut. They both entered, Wolf standing to attention, Alex slouching. Alex knew he was going to be reprimanded for slouching and not standing to attention, but he was so tired by this point that he didn't really care if he was given kitchen duty for a week or not.

"Cub!"

"Sir," acknowledged Alex.

"What brings you back here Cub?"

"He's the agent I was sent to collect, sir," said Wolf, still standing to attention.

"Are you now?" said the Sergeant, appraising Alex now. "You must have moved up in the world, boy. It says on my report that Wolf here, was sent to collect one of MI6's top agents?"

Alex said nothing in retaliation; he just stood there, exhausted and hungry. He'd forgotten to feed himself before leaving the house. Oh well, a little hunger wasn't going to kill him.

"Well, Cub? Cat got your tongue? Hmm?"

"No, sir."

"Then answer the question," the Sergeant said.

"Yes, sir. I must have moved up in the world," answered Alex, weary of power games. All he wanted to do was crawl into bed and sleep for a long time.

"Well then. You'll be staying in Barrack 11---K-Unit's hut. Do you have a timetable?" asked the Sergeant.

"Wolf has it, sir," replied Alex.

The Sergeant turned to Wolf. Wolf, in slight bemusement, handed him both files, not knowing which one contained Alex's timetable.

Alex and Wolf both watched the Sergeant's expressions as he opened the first folder and the second---Alex in apprehension and Wolf in curiosity.

First there was incredulity, then annoyance, then nothing. The Sergeant had his best poker face back on. "Rider, why have you put yourself down for all three languages?"

Alex thought quickly. He didn't want to admit he was fluent in all three and sound arrogant, so he had circled all three, not knowing which one he would like to major in. He said, "I couldn't decide, sir."

Ian had taught Alex a few handy tips on how to lie---the major one being keep it as close to the truth as possible, and that was what Alex did now.

"Well then, Rider, you'll take all three until you decide which one you like the best."

Alex nodded his head in agreement.

Sergeant handed Alex back both files.

"I'm sure that you know what time breakfast is at. Like all new recruits, you will be assessed tomorrow. Dismissed," said the Sergeant and went back to making notes on whatever was on his desk.

Alex filed out of the room after Wolf and followed him to Barrack 11. On the way, they encountered other men. Wolf exchanged greetings with them. Alex was shocked. This was a completely different Brecon Beacons than what he remembered-apparently you were allowed to talk to other people outside your Unit now.

"Wolf."

"Bear, Falcon," said Wolf.

"Who's the kid?"

"Classified."

"Wolf-how's it going? Hey, who's the brat?"

"Wasp. He's new."

"Hey, Wolf! These kids seem to stick to you don't they---that kid, what was his name? Cub, wasn't it? And now this kid! Hard luck, mate!"

Wolf chose to ignore the latest comment and marched on. They reached the door of the hut. Wolf went to open the door, when it was flung open by a tall man with brown hair with a red tinge to it, blue eyes and a huge smile on his face.

"Wolf!" he sang. "You're back! And with the new recruit—don't be shy," he was addressing Alex now. "Step into the light where I can see you properly, and stop hiding behind Wolf."

Alex sighed and stepped out from behind Wolf. Eagle nearly took a high.

"Cub! You're back! Wait are you the agent that Wolf was sent to collect? Does that mean that you're one of MI6's top agents?"

"I'm glad to see you too, Eagle," said Alex tiredly, while internally reeling from shock. What had happened to he serious SAS man to turn him into this?

"Eagle," said Wolf, through gritted teeth. "Get out of the way---now."

Eagle looked as if he was contemplating commenting on Wolf's temper but saw the dangerous glint in the corner of Wolf eyes and decided not to. Eagle moved back into the cabin and Wolf entered. Alex contemplated running for the hills, but he knew that it would do him no good, he wouldn't get far in his state and that it would make him an easy target for Scorpia, so he followed.

The hut hadn't changed in the time he'd been away. The same wood walls, metal bunks, green blankets and so on. His old bed was even pushed against the far wall like it had been when he'd left last time. Snake looked the same---tall and wiry with blond hair and dark blue eyes. He was sitting on his bed reading what looked to be medical notes. Wolf was lying face down on his bunk, looking like he was trying to escape to his happy place, in which Alex had probably never come along in the first place. Eagle of course was right behind Alex, chattering two to the dozen and then there was the new guy.

He was about the same height as Wolf, give or take a few inches with grey eyes and black hair. He was cleaning his gun, but when Alex stepped into the room he stopped and stared at him.

"No way. I am not training with a kid that needs to be mollycoddled!" he said.

"Cub, this is Leopard. You're probably wondering where Fox is right?" said Eagle, enjoying taunting Cub with information about MI6 that he thought Alex didn't know.

Alex's mind was working sluggishly now that he could actually see the bed he was going to be sleeping in.

"Who?" he mumbled.

"Fox," said Eagle, unaffected by the spy's apparent lack of interest.

"What about him?"

"Don't you wonder where he is?"

"Nope, Ben can look after himself," replied Alex moving towards the bed as if in a dream.

"How'd you find out Fox's real name?" said Eagle, doing the fish effect (mouth opens and closes).

"I just did," said Alex to infuriate him and because he couldn't be bothered to go into what happened on his mission to make him meet Ben. He flopped down on the bed after shoving the suitcase under his bed.

"Hey Cub," said Wolf from across the room. Apparently he couldn't forget Alex any longer. "Can I read these?"

Alex stared at him from across the room, then remembered his (hem, hem) 'improvements' to his file and nodded slowly. He emptied out all the gadgets he had stored in his trouser seam, pockets and windbreaker, removing the latter afterwards. Then he lay back down on the bed and slipped under the covers. Alex closed his eyes and tried to picture his room back home.

He was asleep in five minutes.

**x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x**

"Wakey wakey, Cub! Wakey wakey!" sang Eagle, right in Alex's ear, which turned out to be a very big mistake.

Alex's eyes snapped open, quickly absorbing details. He was being woken in a strange place at an unearthly hour, but that was irrelevant right now.

Moving swiftly, Alex sprang out of bed, putting his back to the wall in a defensive stance. His right hand shot out and hit his attacker in the sternum (breastbone), knocking the wind out of them. As the person struggled to regain their breath, Alex's left hand shot out and hit three pressure points in their right thigh and two in their left arm, rendering them immobile. His right hand came up and punched them on the right cheek and then twisted the person's left arm behind their back. This way, he could break their arm in three places in under five seconds.

"Talk," he said, his breathing harsh and ragged.

"Ow…ow…ow, ummm…Cub? Please, I didn't mean it, I was only having a bit of fun," said the attacker.

Slowly, Alex became properly aware of his surroundings and with that came the realisation that the other members of K-Unit were staring at him with varying degrees of confusion. Quickly he released Eagle's arm.

"Sorry," he said and hit a few other pressure points that would let Eagle move again.

"What was that for, Cub? All I wanted to do was give you a nice wake up call. You wouldn't want to be late for breakfast, would you?" whined Eagle, rubbing his chest.

Alex yawned and checked his watch. It was 0543.

"You woke me up at quarter to six," he accused, his voice deceptively calm, his glare anything but.

"Yep," said Eagle, undeterred by his tone of voice or glare.

Alex stepped forward and hit different pressure points on Eagle's body, this time, making his body unable to support itself. Eagle collapsed on the floor. Unfortunately, his mouth muscles didn't seem to be wired to the rest of his muscles pressure points, as Eagle kept pleading with Alex for mercy.

"Please, Cub. I have a Hike to go on soon and I'll get punishment duty if I don't get there on time," whined Eagle on the floor.

Alex sighed. As much fun as it would be to keep Eagle prisoner on the floor and get him punishment duty, he knew he couldn't afford to make an enemy of the one man to accept him somewhat at Brecon Beacons. He stepped forward and hit a pressure point in Eagle's next. The latter stood up almost immediately.

"My word, Cub. Where'd you learn about pressure points and the like?" he asked.

Alex's face closed. "Classified," was all he said.

"Aww come on, Cub. Your file was empty. If we're going to operate as a Unit, we need to know about your missions," whined Eagle.

"If my file didn't give you details, then you weren't meant to know them," Alex answered. "Now did you say something about breakfast?"

A few minutes later, K-Unit, with their unwelcome addition, headed over to the mess hall. As they walked towards the counter that served the food, men called out derogatory comments to Alex.

Alex was using all his self-restraint to stop himself from running over and strangling the men. _Ignore them_, he told himself. _They don't know anything about you._

Leopard meanwhile looked as if he was about join in. Alex finished his food quickly even though he had no appetite. He sat there in silence while the rest of his Unit finished their breakfast. Alex strayed along at the end of his Unit when they went to deposit their trays at the sink where a man was already washing dishes.

As they headed outside, Leopard called out to Alex, "Oh and Cub. You have to report the Sergeants office in, oh I'd say, one minute?"

"Good luck, Cub," called out Eagle and gave him thumbs up. Alex just looked at him, nonplussed.

He cursed Leopard under his breath in German and began running towards the Sergeant's barrack. Alex knocked on the door.

"Enter," proclaimed the same voice that had answered Wolf's knock on the door last night.

Alex stumbled into the office and immediately stood to attention. Now that he was fully alert, he had no intention of being on kitchen duty for a day, never mind a month.

He quickly glanced around the hut. The Sergeant's gaze was on him.

"You'll be tested by S1-Unit **(1). ** They'll be here in a few minutes," he said, his eyes never leaving Alex's face.

"You'll be assessed in your martial art-I believe you do Karate?"

Alex nodded the affirmative to the last question.

"Not in your language, as you haven't chosen yet. On the obstacle course, swimming, hiking and shooting."

Alex flinched at the last one, and it didn't escape the Sergeant's notice.

"What's the matter, Cub? Scared of a little gunfire?" taunted the Sergeant.

"I would prefer not to be assessed in that area," Alex said, quietly.

"Hmm," said the Sergeant, his eyes scanning Alex's face. The boy didn't seem scared, just reluctant.

"You have two options, Cub. Be assessed today by S1-Unit, or be assessed tomorrow by K-Unit."

It wasn't much of a choice. Alex had even gone as far as to ensure that K-Unit would be busy when he went the shooting range. He wasn't about to throw all his hard work down the drain just to satisfy the Sergeant.

"I think I want to be assessed today, sir," he said.

The Sergeant had watched the wariness come and go in his eyes, and decided to be at the shooting range when Alex was going to be assessed. He'd better tell S1-Unit to take him there last and give one of them a radio communicator.

Two short knocks sounded on the door.

"Enter," called out the Sergeant and they did. Alex quickly considered each one as they entered and stood to attention.

The first was tall and thin, with a darkened complexion and looked to be from Chinese descent. The second was a few inches taller than the first, but had lots of muscles on him, black hair and green eyes. The third was short but lean, with dark brown, almost black hair and a big, hooked nose. The fourth was almost an exact replica of the third, but with blond hair and a straight nose.

"Cub this is Hawk, Wasp, Mouse and Heron," stated the Sergeant, calling their names in the order they had entered in. "They'll assess you today. Dismissed. Hawk, could stay behind please?"

The men filed back out of the hut, Alex as well. When the door had swung shut behind them, the men turned to Alex with curious eyes.

"You're the new recruit. Are the rumors true, then? Do you work for MI6?" said Mouse.

Alex figured that they'd find out soon enough and nodded warily with a guarded expression.

"A spy," said Heron shaking his head.

"How'd you manage to get their attention? You're just a brat, a schoolboy," said Wasp.

Alex was getting a feeling of déjà vu now. It was like he was training with K-Unit all over again.

The door to the hut swung open again and Hawk stepped out.

"Listen up, kid," he said to Alex. "I'm not here to baby you, got that? I'm here to see how good you are at most things, that's all. So if you get a broken nail or whatever, don't come crying to me. Clear?"

"Crystal," said Alex, to his face. This man didn't scare him like K-Unit did. He'd seen and met worse before.

"Right," said, Heron, as Hawk glared at Alex. "Let's get started."

"Cub, first you have the obstacle course to do," announced Hawk, with something akin to glee.

He started jogging across base, S1-Unit following, Alex trailing behind. When they arrived, Hawk asked Alex, "What was your last time going over it?"

"Seventeen minutes," said Alex, a bad feeling stirring in his gut. He had really hated the obstacle course when he'd been here last and he was sure it hadn't gotten any better over the time he'd been gone.

"Right. Well," said Hawk. "That's your time to beat. On your marks, get set, go."

Alex started it, thinking up methods of torture to be used on S1-Unit. He grinned when he climbed over nets and ran over rickety bridges, if you could call them that. His smile didn't slip when he crawled through the He was still smiling as he arrived back at the start/finish point in 16 minutes 52 seconds.

Hawk raised his eyebrows. "Cutting it a bit fine aren't we?" he said, although internally he was impressed with the kid's time. He hadn't done this course in what? Almost a year if the rumors were true.

"What are you smiling at, Cub?" asked Wasp threateningly.

Alex bit back his retort and wiped the smirk off his face.

"Now, Cub, you'll be going for a nice 5 mile hike. We'll meet you at the top in two hours for your swimming assessment," sneered Heron, getting into a jeep, the rest of S1-Unit following.

"You'll be taking Red Herring Hike. The trail starts a few metres to your left. Don't be late," said Mouse, and with that cheery parting comment, they drove off.

Alex walked over to where Mouse had said the trail was supposed to begin, and he saw a dirt track disappearing between two trees. Fabulous, a wooded hike. Alex sighed and started walking.

An hour and a half later, Alex was about 1 mile away from the top. He was about to collapse from exhaustion and his scar hurt everytime he took a step. Said person sat down on a log to get his breath back. The obstacle course had taken a toll on him, whether he wanted to admit it or not. Alex brought a hand up to his scar. It felt like it was on fire.

Unbeknownst to Alex, the jeep carrying the four SAS men was parked a few metres away, all four had their binoculars trained on Alex. They had lied when they had said that they'd see him at the top, their main goal being to monitor and observe him while he hiked.

"He looks like he's in pain," said Mouse, the team's medic.

"He's faking," said Wasp at once. Not showing any mercy towards Alex at all.

"What's he doing now?" asked Heron. Quickly they all turned their attention back to Alex.

Alex had discovered that he was a genius. How his tired, overworked brain had been able to grab his meds before he left, he had no idea. Quickly he shook out one pill and put it on the back of his tongue, grimacing at the bitter flavour. He built up the saliva in his mouth by sucking on his tongue and then swallowed it, wishing, not for the first time, that his brain had also managed to bring along a water bottle.

S1-Unit watched as Alex screwed the lid back on and slipped the bottle back in his pocket.

"Reckon he's on drugs?" asked Heron after a moment's silence.

"Nah that looked like a medicine bottle," said Mouse.

"I wonder why he needed medicine. Sergeant told me that his file didn't mention any injuries," mused Hawk out loud. They watched in silence as Alex stood up and began jogging again.

"C'mon, the kid only has 1 more mile left. Let's get to the top," said Wasp. All four men climbed into the jeep and drove off.

Alex soon arrived at the top. The meds had done wonders; he could hardly feel anything from his scar at all.

"Nice to see you arrived before sunset, kid," scorned Heron.

Alex just gave him a look.

"Here, Cub, eat this," said Mouse, holding out a piece of beef jerky. Alex bit into it and grimaced but forced the rest of it down. He would need the energy it would give him.

"Next, you're going for a nice dip in the lake, Cub," said Heron. Hawk nodded and led Alex towards the lake that was a few feet away.

"The far side and back ten times," he said. Alex nodded and was about to remove his shirt, when he remembered his scar. How could he have forgotten about it in the space of a few minutes? He stripped off his trousers and dived in. He came up for air about half way and began swimming with a powerful front crawl.

"Did you see that?" asked Hawk as he sat down beside the others, his eyes still on Alex.

"See what?" said Heron.

"He hesitated before deciding not to take off his shirt," said Hawk, narrowing his eyes at Alex. "My guess is that whatever injury he's hiding, if he's hiding one, is on the upper part of his body."

Mouse looked interested. "Next is martial arts, yes? Well, if he is sufficient in any martial art, he will know that your opponent has to be informed of any injury you might have, so we'll catch him out there." **(1)**

Alex didn't hear any of this. His ears heard the sound off his ragged breathing and his pounding heart. He kept swimming, counting the lengths in his head. He stopped and floated in a starfish shape on the surface of the lake, resting his legs. How much more could he endure today? He knew that he was physically exhausted, and mentally, he wasn't doing so well either.

Sighing he climbed out of the pool to see what other method of torture S1-Unit would put him through next.

**x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x**

**Scorpia HQ, London**

"What do you mean, you've been unable to locate Rider?" yelled a man down a telephone.

"We have been unable to find a trace of him anywhere, sir. However, his guardian, Miss Starbright left of a plane to Washington DC, earlier today, sir," said the voice on the other end of the telephone.

"Is that so," said the first speaker, considering the man's words. "Very well. I'll give you 24 hours to find Rider or where his guardian is going to stay."

"Yes sir."

**x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x**

**Brecon Beacons, On the Red Herring Hike, At the top of a hill/mountain**

"Not bad, Cub," said Hawk as Alex lay on the floor of the forest, panting. "Put these on," he said and threw him a pair of camouflage trousers, "And then get in the jeep. We'll drive you back."

Alex nodded gratefully.

"Are you a mute, boy? Hawk is going to give you a lift down. Are you not going to thank him?" said Wasp.

Personally, Alex thought that Wasp was not content unless he was making problems and he really couldn't be bothered to fight with him so he turned to Hawk and said, "Thank you."

Alex slipped the trousers on and soon was riding down the mountainside **(2) **in the jeep.

"When we get back, you'll be assessed in martial arts and shooting," said Heron. "You'll do martial arts first, then shooting last."

"'Kay," said Alex and went back to staring out the window at the ground, watching it shoot past him.

Soon they arrived back at base and Hawk immediately marched them over to a hut with a sign reading 'Barrack 28.'

"This is where you'll train for martial arts," said Hawk as he stepped through the door. Alex nodded to show he understood.

Quickly he surveyed the hut, taking note of escape routes, which were few and far between in the huts. The room looked identical to Barrack 11 except the beds were gone. In their place were two racks holding weapons. Alex was surprised to find that the weapons were organised and labelled neatly under 'Ju-Jitsu, Karate, Tae Kwando and Judo.'

"What martial art have you taken? If you've taken one that is," asked Hawk, a sneer in his voice.

"I do Karate," said Alex, switching his attention back to S1-Unit.

"Excellent. All of our Unit do Karate. What belt are you?" asked Hawk, allowing a little bit of warmth into his tone. Personally he had been surprised when the kid had said he did Karate, although he didn't expect him to be good.

"First Dan," said Alex.

Hawk and the rest of S1-Unit started and looked at Alex. They had been taking Karate ever since they arrived at Brecon Beacons, and they thought that they had gotten pretty good at it. And then this kid comes along, outranks all of them and has the same rank as Hawk!

"Your first opponent will be me. If you manage well, then we'll add in a few more opponents," said Hawk. Alex nodded and moved so that his back was to the wall.

"I have to tell you something first," said Alex.

_Ah ha!_ Thought Hawk, _so we_ are _going to learn about his injury after all._

Alex took a deep breath, he didn't want to, but he still had to warn them, he owed it to them.

"I do not fight like an ordinary student. My body is too used to fighting for its life, so I might hurt you seriously on accident. If I do, please tell me at once."

Hawk blinked in amazement at what the kid had told him. The kid's body was used to fighting for his life? He shook off any sentiments he had about fighting the brat and attacked.

Alex saw the punch coming towards his head as if in slow motion. It was too easy to bring his arm up to block it and deliver one of his own to Hawk's jaw. He then attacked with a series of jabs and knife hands to various parts of Hawks' body.

Hawk couldn't believe what was happening. He just couldn't comprehend how Alex moved his body so fast. Hawk was the best in their group and he was being beaten by this school kid.

Well he wasn't just going to sit there and take it. He was going to go down fighting. Alex found that while Hawk was a skilful fighter, he lacked the drive to win and experience in the real world in a hand-to-hand combat.

It was only understandable then, that when Alex aimed a flying kick at Hawk's head hoping to stun him and end the fight, that he was shocked to find that Hawk had grabbed hold of his ankle and thrown him over his shoulder. Alex shifted his body so that his weight would land on his hand and did a graceful walkover on it, landing neatly on the balls of his feet. Alex smiled at Hawk's shocked expression.

His next attack went to Hawk's legs, knocking them out from underneath him. In a flash, Heron was there to meet his next punch. Alex senses, heightened by adrenaline, perceived the presence of the three other men joining the fight.

Rapidly, Alex spun and put his back against the wall. In quick succession, Alex knocked out Mouse by pressing his pressure point behind his ear, and Wasp with an elbow to the temple. Heron, upon seeing this decided to go for long-range attacks with his arms and legs, which Alex quickly stopped by hitting his pressure points. Heron glared at him before dropping to the floor.

Alex assessed the attacks while defending himself and soon determined that S1-Unit didn't work together very efficiently as a group, they preferred to attack him one by one.

Alex surveyed his work swiftly. That left Hawk. The man was standing in the middle of the hut with his hands on his knees. "Enough, Cub," he panted. Mouse and Wasp started to stir.

"Not fair," wheezed Heron. "We haven't learned about pressure points yet and you're a higher belt than us, except Hawk."

Alex grinned at him. He was in high spirits, still experiencing the adrenaline rush that came with a fight.

"You won't ever," he said, laughing at the shocked expression that slithered across Heron's face before being replaced by a glare. "I didn't learn about pressure points in Karate lessons."

"Really? Where _did_ you learn about them?" asked Wasp, curious despite himself.

Alex face closed, the rush fading as he was brought back to the present with that question.

"None of your business," he said quietly.

"_Right_," drawled Wasp, as he headed out of the door. "Shooting next, Cub. Chop, chop!"

By the time they reached the shooting range, Alex's chest was beginning to hurt again, sending a few twinges of pain.

"Now, Cub. Have you had any experience with a gun?" asked Heron, the weapons expert on the team.

"Yeah," said Alex.

"Let's get started," said Heron, sneering at him. He handed Alex a gun that said person recognised at once. Of all the rotten luck. This gun was the same type that he had been sent to kill Mrs Jones with.

"Strip it down and build it again," commanded Hawk when Alex didn't move.

Alex stared at the gun in disbelief. He had been taught how to dismantle it and reassemble it by Scorpia. He'd had to do it so many times that he could do so in a few seconds actually. He hadn't needed to on the mission, but Scorpia always were thorough.

Jerking himself back to the present, he knelt on the ground and quickly dismantled it and reassembled it within a minute or so.

He looked up to see S1-Unit staring at him. They seemed to be a lot of that going on recently.

"What?" he said, defensively.

"Nothing," said Hawk, shaking his head.

"Here's two rounds, Cub," said Heron, handing him the discussed objects. "I want you to fire the first at those five targets," he pointed to five targets on the left, ranging in size and shape. There were no human cut-outs though, Alex saw with relief. "And the second at those five targets." He pointed to five targets on the right, also ranging in size and shape.

As Alex turned away, Hawk spoke quickly and quietly into the communicator that Sergeant had given him. A few seconds later he was by their side.

"Is he aware I'm here?" Sergeant asked.

"We're not sure, sir," said Hawk.

"Look," said Wasp, and they all turned to watch Alex, Sergeant in the shadows.

Alex nodded, and turned towards the range. He slotted in the first round. Alex tilted his hand back, took deep breaths and thought back to the first shooting lesson he had with Scorpia.

"_The gun in your hand ceases to be a weapon, a piece of steel used to kill. It is an extension of your arm, a part of you now. Breathe deeply, feel the bullets in the chambers, the smooth metal of your extended arm. Raise your arm and feel the targets, see them with your mind, and shoot!!_

_It must be quick, decisive-instinctive. It is this that makes this form of shooting so unique, so deadly---it is known as instinctive firing."_

Alex did that right now. He raised the gun with is eyes closed, then snapped them open and started firing. When he finished the first round, he fitted in the second and continued firing. He was finished in a few minutes.

"Not bad, kid," said Heron. "Whoever trained you, trained you well. Who was it again?

Alex smothered a smile. He was a spy, for heaven's sake! That absolutely blatant attempt to get information out of him could be seen a mile away.

It was then that Alex noticed Mouse's absence. "Where's Mouse?" he asked.

"Medical Lecture to attend," said Hawk.

Then Heron came back with the results of Alex's shooting. He had an odd look on his face. Alex had a feeling that this was not going to end well.

"Kid, who taught you to shoot? Because we need them here," said Heron.

"How'd he do?" asked Wasp.

Alex got a sinking gsensation I nhis gut.

"Bullseye every time," said Heron. Hawk was surprised, but wiped the emotion off his hface. Even he, with years of SAS training, souldn't shoot like that.

"Well, kid, not bad. Now go run along nad play with your Barbie dolls or whatever it is that you teenagers do these days."

Alex just gave him a glare, handed his gun to Heron and stalked off. He'd had enough of the derogatory remarks, thank you very much.

"So, overall, how would you say he did?" asked the Sergeant, as they watched Alex walk away.

"He's amazing," said Hawk truthfully. "You saw for yourself the results of his shooting, sir. He is an excellent swimmer and finished his hike on time. There was one incident on the mountain, sir. Cub looked tired and in pain. He sat down and poured a pill onto his hand from what we _think_ was a meds bottle. "

"Hmm," the Sergeant said. "Continue."

"He's very good at Karate, sir. He managed to take down our Unit without too much exertion I think. I think we need whoever trained him to come here, sir," said Hawk.

"Hn," grunted the Sergeant.

He and S1-Unit watched Alex walk away from them towards his hut. All of them were thinking the same thing---just who _was_ this kid?

**x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x**

**A/N:**

**(1) I have no idea if that is true sorry.**

**(2)This wasn't actually a mountain like Mt Rainier or Mt St Helens, instead envision the hills surrounding Ellensburg and Yakima, Washington State. Or if you're from Britain and been on a day trip to NI (like me!) then envision the Mournes, except a little bit smaller.**

**(Are you impressed? I actually did a bit of research there! I couldn't believe it either!)**


	6. Now What?

**A/N:**

**PLEASE READ THIS IT IS VERY IMPORTANT!!!!!**

**Okay. First thank you to all my awesum reviewers, you make me so happy! And a happy writer equals quicker update. Keep them coming. I'm currently working on Chapter 7 (By the way, my apologies for taking so long to update but my laptop decided to screw up and delete all saved things.) Now for the bad news. EXAMS!!!!! Most of you, I'm sure have exams coming up and will sympathise with me when I say that these are VERY important ones in my life and I REALLY need to study, so you won't hear much from me for a while. Sorry, once again, thank you for the awesum reviews. They're lege! =)**

**Chapter 6**

**What Now?**

Alex ate dinner with K-Unit and the rest of the Units on base in the mess hall. He found that it was easier to ignore the derogatory comments when he was dead tired and really didn't care any more.

More than once, Alex caught S1-Unit shooting him looks, which he pointedly ignored---he wanted nothing more to do with them.

Right now, all he wanted was a surface---mattress, sheet, floor, anything---that had his name and the word 'sleep' associated with it.

Snake watched Alex from the corner of his eye. The kid looked exhausted, drained of energy. Snake frowned. Last time Alex was here, he'd seemed to hold up pretty well. So what had changed?

Alex at the moment was at war with his body. Eyelids vs. Alex's common sense that was telling him that if he fell asleep here, it would be the last thing he ever saw. It was a losing fight on both sides.

"C'mon, Cub. We're done, let's go," Snake said, allowing a bit of care into his voice, as he stood up, tray in hand, Wolf and Leopard following.

"But I still have some lef-ouch!" yelped Eagle as Snake kicked him on the ankle and nodded discreetly to Cub. The kid looked as if he was sleepwalking already.

"Fine, fine. You go on ahead, I'll catch up in a mo," Eagle said, happiness restored as he solved the problem in his favour. Just as he had finished licking the inside of the bowl, the Sergeant appeared.

"Eagle," he said, his voice exuding authority.

Eagle bolted up from the table and stood to attention. "Yes, sir?"

"Clear your dishes and then meet me outside. We have something to talk about." And in his oh so cheery way, Sergeant stalked out of the room.

Eagle stared after him, slightly confused. He hadn't blown anyone up, he hadn't managed to drive Wolf insane yet and he hadn't done his rooster impersonation too loud a few days ago had he? Come to think of it….

Eagle cleared his tray in a daze, wondering what he'd done. He walked out of the mess hall.

Sergeant was there, waiting for him.

"It's about, Cub," he said, and held out a folder.

Eagle took it and said, "What about Cub, sir?"

"These are the results of his tests. Written statements by S1-Unit," said Sergeant, watching Eagle's face as he read what was in the report.

It moved from worry, to surprise, to confused, to amazed, to---something like awe?

"When did Cub get so good?" asked Eagle in wonder.

"I don't know. His file was empty. We got his eye colour and age and that's about it. No medical file or details---nada," said Sergeant, aware that he was talking with more familiarity to Eagle and not really being bothered by it.

"I was going to take this up with Wolf, as he's your Unit leader, but I think you all deserve to know, as you'll be training with him, although we might have to change a few things around," said Sergeant.

Eagle nodded, "Yes, sir. Can I show this to the rest of K-Unit, then?"

Sergeant nodded his head.

Eagle headed back to his Barrack with the folder in his hands and a strange look on his face.

**x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x**

**Scorpia HQ, Washington DC**

"Found her!" smiled a man to himself, and picked up a phone next to his computer. It had taken him 4 hours to hack into CIA and MI6 intelligence computers and extract the information he needed, but he'd got it in the end.

"Hello? Yes, sir. We've managed to locate Miss Starbright," he said into the receiver.

"Good work. You might receive a promotion if your partner manages to do his job well," said the voice on the other end of the phone. "Now, back to our original business, how is the recruiting coming along?"

The man shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Sir, we have been unable to recruit any more due to the Rider incident. All security around schools has been doubled by MI6 in British schools and new alarms and systems have been installed throughout most schools. I'm not getting very much information from the CIA site at the moment but I will access the information you request soon."

There was a silence on the other end of the phone.

"Sir?" the man said eventually.

"That is indeed unfortunate. I will discuss these unlucky proceedings with my associates. For the mean time, switch all monitors to day and night."

"Yes, sir! Right away, sir."

"Oh, and Andrews? If your friend doesn't do his job, your life is forfeit. Good afternoon," and with that, the man hung up.

He sighed and rubbed his temples, leaning his elbows on the desk.

"Headache, sir?" said the man who was sitting on the far side of the room, doing paperwork.

"Yes. Simons, bring me a coffee and files on Rider," the man said.

"Right away, Mr Kroll." Simons stood and exited the room.

Once he was out in the hallway, Ben Daniels sighed and started walking in the opposite direction of the kitchens. He had received the information he was required to, now he wanted out.

**x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x**

**Brecon Beacons, Late at Night**

Eagle pushed open the door to his hut open, cautiously. He looked around the room. Cub was asleep in his bed. Snake was studying his medical notes, Leopard was playing with a deck of cards and Wolf was cleaning his gun.

"What took you so long?" whispered Snake, looking up from his notes.

"Sergeant wanted to talk to me," Eagle replied.

"Sergeant? Talk to you? Why?" asked Wolf.

"It's about Cub's assessment," said Eagle, making his way to his bed and sitting down on it.

"Well, what about Cub's assessment?" asked Leopard, curious.

"It's all in this folder. Prepare to be amazed," said Eagle and tossed Wolf the folder.

Wolf caught it with ease and opened it. Snake climbed off his bed and he along with Leopard went to stand behind Wolf and read it over his shoulder.

"Wow," said Snake. "You'll have fun with him in Karate, Eagle."

"No I won't! Didn't you read it? He's a first Dan---that's a couple levels higher than me," protested Eagle.

"He wasn't assessed in a language, I see," said Leopard, the language expert.

"Yeah, he said he couldn't decide, so the Sergeant said for him to go to all three this week until he chooses," said Wolf, absentmindedly, still reading Alex's assessment.

Snake went back to reading the assessment. "Hey, look at this part. What do you reckon that means?" he said, reading the part about Alex's supposed meds.

"Dunno," said Eagle, shrugging. "I was confused there to 'cause his file didn't mention any injury."

"Hn," grunted Leopard.

"Reckon we should go through his stuff while he's asleep?" said Eagle all of a sudden, an evil glint in his eyes.

"Umm, Eagle that might not be such a good idea. Remember what happened this morning? Besides, we need him to trust us," said Snake, ever the voice of reason.

"Sounds like he's in pretty good shape," commented Wolf when he was finished reading. ""Whoever trained him to shoot though, did a darn good job. Bullseye every time!"

Eagle nodded, serious once again. "Yeah. Bet he can't beat me though!"

Snake grinned, "You're on. Cub could take you any day!" although Snake didn't show it, he was impressed with Alex's score and never missed a chance to rile Eagle. This just happened to be the perfect chance. Eagle would never get over it if he was beaten by a fourteen year old kid.

"That's not going to happen guys," said Leopard.

"Why not?" said Eagle.

"Because if I remember correctly, Cub changed his timetable so that he shoots while we go see the shrink," said Leopard as if it was the most obvious thing of all.

"Aww," whined Eagle, put out.

Wolf still had Alex's file under his bed. He got it out.

"He doesn't have to go see a shrink," said Wolf.

"He probably doesn't need to. Most likely he hasn't been on any missions," sneered Leopard.

"Still, you gotta admit, that's impressive for a kid," said Snake as he finished reading it. He went back over to his bed and got into it.

"Night," he said to the room in general.

Leopard copied him and Eagle got into his own bed.

Wolf put all three folders back under his bed and lay down. He listened to Snake's snores and Eagle's shifting. In the background he could hear Leopard's breathing and from Cub? Nothing.

Alex woke in soaked in sweat. It took all his willpower not to cry out. That's when he discovered he couldn't have even if he wanted to. His throat was hoarse from screaming all night. He sat there in his bed, gasping for air quietly. It had been another nightmare, this one again exceptionally vivid. It had been the one where he was drowning. Pictures flashed through his head of the abandoned wreck that he had been trapped in. He shuddered and checked his watch. It read 0438 AM. Alex sighed. There was no way he was going to get back to sleep. He might as well get up.

Said person personally thought that it was a miracle he hadn't woken the other members of his Unit with his screams. It was luck, he supposed. Alex slipped on his boots, making as little noise as possible and grabbed a towel from his suitcase.

Quietly, he tiptoed his way through the hut and out the door, heading for the shower block.

Alex stood underneath the shower nozzle and let the water wash away his sweat. He towelled himself off and slipped on his camouflage trousers and jacket.

He checked his watch again. It read 0456 now.

Alex thought that as he was up and not doing anything, he might as well eat breakfast. He trooped off in the direction of the mess hall.

It was abandoned. The only people there were the cook and Alex.

"Why're you here so early?" the cook grunted in Alex's direction.

"I woke up early and decided to get something to eat," Alex replied, warily.

"Hn," grunted the cook. "Food's hot. Here, grab a bowl."

20 minutes later, Alex felt better and much more awake.

"Thanks," he said to the cook. "I needed that"

The cook looked at him appraisingly. "Good, now I know it's not poisonous, I can feed it to the others." Seeing Alex's expression, he relented, "I was joking, kid." Alex relaxed. He hadn't known that people here had a sense of humour. He thanked the cook again and walked out the door.

Meanwhile, K-Unit was starting to wake up, giving no thought to their new addition, until Eagle said, "Where's Cub?"

The other men looked towards Cub's bed to find it made neatly, but empty. Snake started panicking, "MI6 will kill us when they find out that their best agent came here for training and went missing."

"Actually," said a voice from the doorway, "They would probably not care too much."

"Cub!" Snake said, turning around to see said person standing in the doorway.

"Where've you been, Cub?" asked Wolf, eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"I had a shower and breakfast," said Alex, walking over to his bed and tossing his still damp towel on his bed.

"Why're you up so early?" asked Snake.

"I didn't think I deserved the privilege of being woken up by Eagle today," said Alex with a straight face.

Eagle looked as if he was struggling to work out if his comment was a compliment or insult. He settled for whining, "Aww! Cub, you ruin all my fun!"

Alex smiled. Now that he was fully rested, well, as fully rested as he could be under the circumstances, and had some food in him, he was feeling ready to face anything, even an extremely put out Eagle.

"Were you told that I was here for training?" asked Alex as he sat down on his bed and pulled out his suitcase, resting it on the bed. He turned his back to the rest of K-Unit so he missed the look that flashed between them.

"Yeah, well aren't you?" asked Wolf.

"Yeah," said Alex, with his back still turned. He shoved his towel back into his suitcase and discreetly slipped some smoke bombs and a couple packets of gun in his pocket, he didn't know why, he just felt more secure knowing they were there.

"I sense there's a 'but' coming…"said Eagle.

"But, I'm also here for protection," continued Alex, as if Eagle's interruption had never happened.

"Protection?" asked Snake, lines appearing on his forehead as he frowned. "From who?"

"Can't tell you, sorry. Classified," said Alex, not sounding sorry at all. Alex managed to zip his suitcase closed and slid it off the bed to land on the floor; from there he shoved it back into its former position under the bunk.

"What day is it?" asked Alex, having forgotten.

"It's Thursday," said Leopard, speaking for the first time.

Alex didn't trust Leopard. Actually, come to think of it, he didn't trust any of them. Full stop. But he trusted Leopard the least. With Wolf, Eagle and Snake, he knew what to expect, from Leopard---nothing.

"Aww," whined Eagle in an annoying voice that Alex was getting accustomed to.

"I hate Thursdays! First I've German, then swimming, then therapy, then a gun lecture, then target practice. And to top it off, we've got Judo and First Aid."

Alex thought that there was a bit of role reversal going on here. Wasn't he supposed to be the teenager that whined about his awful timetable?

"You missed fitness," said Leopard.

"So, Cub. Are you going to the gun lecture?" Eagle asked.

"What's it to you?" asked Alex, going on the defensive automatically.

"I dunno, I was just asking," said Eagle.

Alex appraised him for a moment. Eagle felt uncomfortable. If he didn't know better, he would have sworn that the kid could look right through him.

After what was a very long moment for Eagle, Alex nodded and said, "Yeah, I'm going."

He followed K-Unit to breakfast and sat down in a chair beside Eagle. Alex folded his arms on the table and leant his head on them, the effects of sleep deprivation catching up with him.

"You okay, Cub?" asked Eagle, noticing the teen slumped on the table.

Alex sighed. Just when he didn't want K-Unit looking at him, they would.

"I'm fine," he said, dragging his head up and pinching the bridge of his nose to help him stay awake.

"So, Cub," asked Leopard, between mouthfuls. "What language are you going to today? Are you sure you're going to be able to keep up? We won't go easy on you just because you're a kid."

Alex thought about his answer. He was best at Spanish. French and German were pretty equal for him. He'd loved Spain the best of all the countries he'd gone to live in. Alex knew that he should revise his German or French, but he wanted to see what the standard of learning for Spanish was here.

"I'll do Spanish," he said.

"Good," said Wolf, "You'll be with Snake and Leopard. Eagle does German and I do French."

Alex gave him a funny look. He'd always thought that Wolf had the look of a Spaniard about him but he was wrong apparently.

"I'm already fluent in Spanish," added Wolf, as an afterthought. "My mother was Spanish, my dad was English."

Soon the men were finished and headed their different ways. Wolf went to Barrack 57, Eagle to Barrack 21 and Snake, Leopard and Alex to Barrack 34.

Barrack 34 looked bigger than the other huts surrounding it. Alex soon saw why.

It had been converted into a classroom---complete with rows of desks, chairs, a teacher's desk and a chalkboard.

Alex estimated that there was roughly 20 men there altogether, two from every Unit he thought.

The men lounged around, talking to one another, eyeing Alex and complaining.

That all changed when a man walked into the classroom. All the men in the vicinity quickly stood to attention, others following suit.

The man walked to the front of the classroom and put his briefcase down on the table with a bang, making Alex jump. The men all sat.

"_Good morning," _the man said politely, in Spanish. _"Today, we're going to work on translation from Spanish to English. Right now, I'm going to give you a piece of paper and I want you to translate what I dictate into English and write it down. The second speech I dictate will be in English. I want you to translate it into Spanish and write it down."_

The man began to hand out pieces of lined paper and a pen to everyone. When he came to Alex he raised his eyebrows but made no comment. He walked back to the front of the room and began to speak in rapid Spanish.

Alex's ears caught the first few words and he started to write them down. The man finished the first speech and moved on to the second. 10 minutes later, they handed in their papers after putting their codenames on it.

Alex was highly amused to see SAS men bundled into a classroom, looking bored and learning Spanish. 5 minutes after they handed in their papers, the man looked up. Alex had still not learned his name.

"_Who is Cub?"_ he asked.

"_I am,"_ Alex said quietly in Spanish as every head swivelled in his direction, including Snake and Leopard's.

"_Walk up to the front," _the man commanded.

Alex did as asked.

"_Name?"_

"_Cub, sir. Or Alex Rider if you prefer," _answered Alex just as fast as the man. He looked impressed.

"_Do you speak Spanish?"_

"_Yes."_

"_Are you fluent?"_

"_Yes."_

"_The you have surpassed all the men in this room. For the mean time, I want you to write what I say on the board with chalk. Translated into Spanish, of course."_

Alex picked up a piece of chalk from the bottom of the board. The other men were looking at him curiously; they had been only picked up the gist of the conversation, otherwise being completely lost throughout it due to the speed of the transaction.

The man tuned back to the rest of the class. "Cub here has surpassed all of you, which is why he is writing this up on the board."

The men's heads swivelled to Alex again and sure enough, in Alex's handwriting, scrawled across the board was the sentence the man had spoken translated into Spanish.

"_Now, Alex. I want you to talk about something and I'll try and have the men translate it."_

Alex swallowed nervously as the man issued his instructions to the rest of the class in English. He began to speak.

"_If you are ever about to be killed, remain calm."_

The man's eyes widened at Alex's starting statement, but he made no move to stop him.

"_Don't panic and try and keep an even head."_ Alex decided it was time for a topic change. _"When shooting a gun, it doesn't matter what make, try and imagine the gun as part of you."_

Alex was only saying this because he knew that most of the men there wouldn't be able to translate it. The teacher, however, looked fascinated with Alex's teaching.

"_Raise the gun and fire, but with you're eyes closed. Work your way up to the point where you are able to open your eyes at the last moment and the bullets hit the centre every time. Deep breathing also helps…."_

Alex spoke on shooting until he had nothing more to say. He looked at the teacher who smiled at him, the first real sign of kindness that anyone had shown him here besides the cook.

"Not bad, kid," he said in English. "Take your seat."

The teacher turned to the rest of the men. "As Cub is already fluent in Spanish, he's going to be my assistant today until we find a language for him that he can't speak. Right. Now, I want you to ask him questions. This should prove useful to you if you are ever guarding a Spanish captive or treating a Spanish patient. Right, Snake. Ask Cub a question."

Snake looked as if he was considering his words. Finally he said, _"Do you speak any other languages?"_

Alex considered his answer carefully. He could lie, but he would be found out eventually, he couldn't pretend to be dumb in German and French for forever.

"_Yes,"_ Alex said reluctantly.

The teacher nodded. "Good question, Snake. Right, Flea, you're next."

The man called Flea asked Alex, in Spanish, _"Which languages?"_

Internally Alex groaned. Externally, he glared at the man. Then he said in fast Spanish, _"I believe that it is not of importance. I speak more than one, that is all you need to know."_

The teacher looked at Alex. "Tell them, Cub."

Alex opened his mouth to argue, then remembered where he was, and shut it. In his head, he said a few choice words towards the man he had thought was kind and outwardly he said, _"I speak French, German, English and Spanish."_

And so it continued like that. One man asked Alex if he'd ever killed someone. Alex just gave him **_the look,_** and ignored him. The teacher made no comment on the incident and for that, Alex was relieved.

Alex sighed in relief as the lesson ended and headed outside. As soon as he stepped through the door, Snake was upon him, asking him questions so quickly that all Alex heard was a blur. Alex looked for Leopard but couldn't see him.

Eventually Snake paused for air. Alex quickly spoke. "Aren't we going to be late for our swim?" and walked off. Snake trailing behind him.

As they walked, Snake seemed to recover from his shock and said, "Cub? Do you really know all those languages? I mean, how many languages do you actually know?"

Alex sighed and stopped walking. With his back to Snake, he answered, "Actually, five."

"Five!" Alex could the incredulity in Snake's voice. "Which ones? You were speaking so fast in Spanish that I hardly caught what you said."

"Spanish, English, French, German and I'm nearly fluent in Japanese. I also know a few phrases in Italian."

Snake whistled. "Wow."

Snake started walking again, Alex following this time. Soon they reached their destination. A lake stretched out in front of them.

"How many times do we have to swim it?" asked Alex.

"Twice. Far side and back two times," said Snake. "It's the equivalent of two kilometres."

Alex just nodded his head and followed Snake to the changing rooms, which was a concrete block painted white and hollowed out.

The door with squeaky hinges announced their arrival to the other members of K-Unit.

"How was Spanish?" asked Eagle, from the expression on Leopard's face, he'd already told them. From the look on Eagle's face, Alex knew that they wouldn't acknowledge the fact that they knew unless they heard it from him. He sighed.

"Easy," he said quietly.

"Why was it easy, Cub?" asked Wolf, his voice dangerously low.

"Because I speak Spanish," said Alex.

"_Let's see how good you are,"_ said Wolf, in his native tongue. _"Where did you learn Spanish?"_

"_From Spain?"_ quipped Alex, leaning against the wall as Snake went to sit with his teammates.

Wolf rolled his eyes. _"You have good Spanish Alex. Who did you learn it from?"_

"_From Spanish people?"_ said Alex, eyebrows raised.

Wolf exploded. _"Why didn't you tell us?"_ he hissed in Alex's face.

Alex, unfazed, merely wiped Wolf's spit from his cheek and looked him in his dark eyes. It was at that moment he had a revelation.

He was no longer afraid of Wolf. Why? He didn't know. Maybe it was facing madmen regularly, or maybe it was dealing with MI6; whatever the reason, Alex wasn't afraid of Wolf any more.

"I didn't think it was of importance," Alex said calmly. "Actually, I didn't know you cared."

"I… I don't care," said Wolf, taken aback by Alex's reaction, or lack of anyway. "I just don't like the fact that you kept information from us."

Alex regarded him shrewdly, then shrugged and looked away from Wolf.

"Well, if you're finished with your interrogation then…" he said, trying to slide out from under Wolf's glare unsuccessfully.

"Not yet, Cub. How many?" demanded Wolf, harshly.

"How many what?" asked Alex, innocently.

"Don't screw around with me, Cub. You know what I'm talking about."

"Fine. Four, well technically five," said Alex. "Now can I get changed?"

"You speak five languages?" said Leopard in amazement.

"Well, I'm only fluent in four," said Alex embarrassed.

"He's only fluent in four," mimicked Eagle weakly, looking as if he was about to do the fish impression again.

"Which ones, Cub?" asked Wolf.

Alex saw that he wasn't going to get out of this without explaining, so he said, "English, Spanish, French, German and I'm almost fluent in Japanese. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to get changed for the swim."

Alex got changed in record time, ensuring he left his shirt on, and went outside to wait for the other members of K-Unit.

He walked to the edge of the lake and stared at the reflection. After a few minutes of staring at his replica, he shuddered, tilted his head back and closed his eyes. A light drizzle had sprung and Alex felt it landing on his face and running down his cheeks, like tear tracks.

It was as if the weather was mocking him, crying tears he could never cry. The tears of the child hidden deep inside his body. All the sadness in his heart welled up. So many of his missions were associated with water. Herod Sayle's giant jellyfish tank, swimming through the underwater cave lake in the tin mine, The tapped water at Wimbledon, being chased by the Triads while riding the Crusher, swimming with the great white beside Sarov's place, Yassen's yacht on the beach in the south of France, the jungle level on Cray's game when it was raining almost exactly like this. The frantic boat chase through Venice, his near drowning at Ca' Vedova, mucking aorund with Paul on the beach, windsurfing to Barbados, splashing down from space into the ocean, his game of hide and seek on board de Wynter's ship and Dragon Nine anchored in the water.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't hear the person behind him until he was too late.

Eagle, still disbelieving the fact that little Cub was more skilled at something than him, besides snowboarding down mountains on ironing boards in the middle of the night, decided that he would talk to him. Maybe get to know him better.

Eagle stepped out of the changing room and looked for Cub outside. He saw him standing beside the lake, his head tilted towards the sky with water streaming down his face like tears.

Eagle didn't even stop to think what he was doing. He walked towards Cub, wondering why he didn't show some acknowledgment of his being there. Eagle felt a little guilty. They must have been harder on him than he'd thought if he was getting this kind of attitude from him. Obviously Alex was all for the silent treatment.

"Cub?" he ventured and, forgetting how Alex responded to touch, put a hand on his shoulder and spun him around.

Alex, woken out of his memories by an unfamiliar touch, reacted again. He jabbed forwards with his elbow, winding the person in front of him. Quickly, he swept their feet out from underneath them. It was then he realised that he was staring into Eagle's baby blues again.

"Cub, it's me!" said Eagle.

"Sorry," said Alex. He stood and walked a distance away from the man.

Eagle got up off the ground and remembered the look on Alex's face when he had spun him around. It was one of desolation and grim humour.

Eagle walked up to Alex again, this time making his approach known by deliberately scuffing his feet against the ground.

Alex turned swiftly. Eagle hated the way a wariness came into the kid's eyes whenever he saw a member of his Unit.

Alex stood staring at Eagle. Was there something he wanted from him that the rest of his Unit couldn't give him?

"Cub, what were you thinking about a few seconds ago? When I startled you."

Alex started and stared at Eagle. Was that an attempt to be friendly? And with a serious tone in his voice as well? Wolf must have put Eagle up to pumping him for answers.

He was about to answer with a sarcastic reply, but never got the chance as Wolf and the others emerged from the changing rooms and Snake yelled out, "Hey, Eagle! Last one in is a girl!"

Eagle immediately jumped in the water. Alex walked back to stand near K-Unit.

One after the other, they jumped in, cannonball style and began swimming.

Alex watched them for a minute, wishing that he had a partner or someone to work with that wasn't going to betray him or die. It would be nice to have a team to depend on.

"Move it, Cub! Stop daydreaming," yelled Wolf.

Alex shook himself out of his thoughts, it was better he worked alone. That way, he couldn't get anybody else killed. Alex then took a few running steps and dove neatly into the lake, surfacing about halfway for air. The water was freezing, but refreshing all at once.

Alex started with the same powerful front crawl that he had used when he was being tested by S1-Unit.

The others were far ahead of him and Alex didn't really feel like getting any too close to them so he slowed his pace so that he was about a quarter of a length behind them. Alex observed K-Unit in the water. Wolf was a born swimmer; he looked right at home in the lake. Eagle managed fairly well and so did Leopard. It was Snake that lagged behind in this area. The Scottish man evidently didn't enjoy swimming and wasn't particularly good at it either.

Needless to say, K-Unit finished before Alex and watched him as he swam towards them.

"The kid's holding up well so far," observed Leopard.

"I dunno," muttered Eagle under his breath to himself. Wolf just glared and gave his customary, "Hn."

Snake was too busy trying to get his breath back to comment.

Alex reached the shore, exhausted. He hauled himself out of the water and lay on the ground, panting. His body ached and his scar tingled quite a bit.

Alex suddenly realised, to his horror, that he was going to have to shower with K-Unit in a few minutes. How was he going to hide the bullet wound?

Alex sat up, brain desperately thinking up jobs or excuses and discarding them when he realised that they were far too obvious.

Alex was still thinking about how to get out of having a shower when an excuse was provided for him.

Alex shakily climbed to his feet. He raised his eyes to see a man talking with K-Unit. He was of medium height and build with a long pointy nose, small green eyes and red hair. As he walked closer, he discovered that there was a sort of argument going on.

"What's going on?" he asked, thoroughly worn out.

"Sergeant's got a phone call from 'The Bank' for an Alex Rider," said the man.

Alex nodded and turned to the rest of K-unit. "Go ahead and shower. I had one earlier anyway. I'll meet you at the gun lecture later. Have fun in therapy."

And with that parting statement, Alex turned, clothes dripping and all and started towards Sergeant's Barrack, the man trailing after him.

**A/N:**

**PLEASE READ THIS IT IS VERY IMPORTANT!!!!!**

**Okay. First thank you to all my awesum reviewers, you make me so happy! And a happy writer equals quicker update. Keep them coming. I'm currently working on Chapter 7 (By the way, my apologies for taking so long to update but my laptop decided to screw up and delete all saved things.) Now for the bad news. EXAMS!!!!! Most of you, I'm sure have exams coming up and will sympathise with me when I say that these are VERY important ones in my life and I REALLY need to study, so you won't hear much from me for a while. Sorry, once again, thank you for the awesum reviews. They're lege! =)**


	7. Again!

**Chapter 7**

**Again?!**

Alex entered Sergeant's hut after the customary 'Enter.'

"Ah, Alex. Mrs Jones is waiting right now," Sergeant said and handed Alex a mobile that looked a few decades out of date. Alex was surprised. He had been expecting a landline, but then, where would the cables go?

With a little apprehension, Alex stepped out of the hut, mobile in hand and put it up to his ear.

"Hello?" he said.

"Alex," said Mrs Jones over the telephone. "We have to inform you that our agent in Scorpia has managed to tell us exactly what Scorpia wanted with your school. Well actually, not just your school, every school in Britain and North America so it seems. They are trying to recruit teenagers to be assassins. Our agent has requested for leave of mission and we're sending him for some recuperation and training with the SAS."

Alex listened in silence. Fabulous, just what he needed, an MI6 agent coming here and telling all his stories. Mrs Jones went on.

"He should be arriving within a few days. We're still trying to determine if Scorpia have picked up on your location yet. So far, there has been very little activity from them. Goodbye."

And with that she hung up.

Alex was left staring at the phone. He walked back into the hut and handed it to the Sergeant.

"Thank you, sir," he said and headed back outside.

He decided that it was good that he had shooting now; he could work off his frustration with target practice.

He walked into the range.

Today, it was busy. So busy that the instructor that was supposed to be teaching Alex had forgotten about him and was helping his colleague with a bunch of what looked like new recruits, who seemed to be being taught how to shoot---properly. It was all very well that you could pick up a gun and shoot the thing, but when you joined the SAS, they made you hone your skills until shooting was second nature.

Alex grinned wryly and slipped in unnoticed. This was his lucky day. Everyone was busy paying attention to everyone else, not focussed on him.

Alex didn't want to call unnecessary attention to himself, so he grabbed 7 rounds of blanks and found the gun he had used yesterday and walked over to the farthest targets away from the group.

He slotted the first round into the gun. Then stood there. Scorpia had told him to become emotionless before shooting; it helped focus the mind. Alex did exactly the opposite.

He called on his entire wrath and loathing for MI6, the bitterness he felt at the mocking comments called his way, at school and here. He let all this rage in his head.

He brought the gun up, smiled once and let rip. Soon he'd emptied 5 rounds, all at the various bullseyes.

By now, Alex was starting to feel better. Life wasn't so bad. Once he got out of this place, he could run and hide. Maybe fly to Washington, pick up Jack and then…poof! Disappear.

Alex smiled at the thought of him and Jack in black suits with sunglasses walking down the street in Las Vegas or somewhere.

He slotted in the last couple of rounds and started firing.

Alex by this point was feeling buoyant. He would've gone to shooting ranges more often if he'd known that it relaxed him. As he finished shooting the last round, he got the feeling that someone was watching him.

Discreetly, he glanced around himself, but didn't see anybody. Alex checked his watch. He'd been here nearly two hours. Time to go then.

Alex still couldn't shake off that feeling when he was waiting outside Barrack 76 for the gun lecture. He was early. He'd walked up to the instructor and handed him the gun and asked for directions to the gun lecture. The instructor had just looked at him, then said, "Barrack 76," and walked off to join his colleague again.

Alex was tired of standing outside the hut and sat down, which turned out to be a mistake. He pulled his legs up in front of him and looped his arms around them. With a sigh, he'd rested his cheek on top of his knees.

Soon Alex felt drowsy, he battled against his lids but to no prevail. The last thing he remembered thinking before falling asleep was, _Why me?_

That was how K-Unit found him when they arrived. Alex was in almost the exact same position that he'd been in when he'd fallen asleep.

Alex, meanwhile, was in the throes of another nightmare_. _

_It was one where Jack and he were running, but no matter how hard he ran, he couldn't get to her before the bullet hit her and she fell to the ground dead._

_Then the dream veered off in a new direction. Nadia Vole and Mr Grin watched him as he swam desperately to get away from the jellyfish. He turned around and saw Yassen beside him._

_Alex began to panic._

"_It's alright Alex. You can't fight your destiny," said Yassen gently. And that was when Alex woke up._

K-Unit had watched as worry lines had appeared on Alex's forehead and how he'd jerked his head from side to side, saying quietly, "No. No!"

Then the kid had tensed and woken up.

Alex opened his eyes to see four men standing in front of him, and then shot to his feet, thinking that they must be here to beat him up. He must still be having a nightmare. It was a bit strange though because he'd never had one that included K-Unit before. Besides the one he'd lived through before the Stormbreakers and Herod Sayle.

Then he realised that he was awake.

Alex sat down on the ground again and yawned.

"You okay, Cub?" asked Eagle quietly. "The other men should be arriving soon."

Alex stretched and then got up, more leisurely than before. He stood, clinging onto the edge of Barrack 76.

He felt weak from lack of lunch, lack of sleep and energy wastage, but he would live, and if need be, he could fight.

Alex let go of the Barrack when he noticed Snake looking at him. "How long was I asleep?"

"I'd say about 20 to 30 minutes," said Leopard. "Try not to do it again. We only let people who have done something for their country and people who don't slack off, sleep during the day. Who knows? Maybe one day, you'll earn your rest, but until then, don't."

Alex just gave him a tight-lipped smile and turned away saying, "Will do."

A few minutes later, another Unit appeared. Alex melted into the shadows of the hut, just like Scorpia had taught him, and stayed hidden as more arrived.

Soon there was somewhere between 20-24 men waiting for the lecture.

The sergeant arrived and made his way through the crowd to the door. He unlocked it and all the men poured in after him, Alex was the last one to enter. He took a seat at the back of the Barrack, half obscured by the shadows.

The gun lecture would've been interesting, if Alex hadn't attended quite a few when training with Scorpia that were more detailed and more extensive.

He sat at the back of the class throughout the whole thing trying to look interested and failing.

It was a very long hour for him. When it was over, Alex was the first one out the door. Quickly he melted back into the shadows outside.

It was a bit eerie watching Britain's fighting force, the elite fighting force, walk right past him, without even noticing him, and more than a little bit worrying.

He would have to report this to Mrs Jones.

Alex noticed K-Unit walking off towards the target range and decided to go and do homework, glad that his teachers had given him work to catch up on.

He got back to Barrack 11 in a matter of minutes and sat down on his bunk. Alex undid the straps on his suitcase and pulled out his schoolbag.

He redid the straps after re-zipping his suitcase and shoved it back under the bed. Alex opened his schoolbag and took out some work. He glanced at what was on the top of the pile. Great, maths.

In the next three hours that K-Unit were at the shooting range, Alex managed to catch up in his Maths. He also did a bit of English, Chemistry, Physics and Geography.

He checked his watch. It read 1554.

Alex packed away his books and walked over to the shooting range, seeing as he didn't know where he was going next and K-Unit probably did.

He was just in time to watch K-Unit fire their last round for the day. Alex quickly slipped into the shadows as a precaution.

The majority of Wolf's hit the bullseye or were not far off it. Snake's were generally within the ring surrounding the bullseye and a few actually on said object. Leopard's products were average, shooting was obviously not his strong point.

What surprised him the most was Eagle's score. The crazy man he'd seemed so far, had reverted back to his cold hard self he'd been when Alex first came to Brecon Beacons. Alex supposed that every man on K-Unit excelled at something but he would've never guessed that shooting was Eagle's.

Eagle had managed to hit the bullseye every time apart from once, and even then the bullet was right beside it. A couple more centimetres left and it would have made it.

Alex watched as they checked their guns and put them away.

He waited until they were walking away from the shooting range before stepping out of the shadows and following them.

He listened to them talk about firing practice. Eagle, it appeared, was mad at himself.

"A couple more centimetres to the left and I would've had it!" he said, looking frustrated.

"C'mon, Eagle. You're the best on this team, better than the rest of us. Look at my results, for example," said Snake comfortingly.

"Not Cub. Remember the report? Bullseye every time. Wonder who trained him to shoot?" Eagle mused out loud.

Alex felt a cold feeling wash through his whole body at Eagle's words. So they had read the report. They knew. Alex thought it was time he revealed his presence.

"Where are we going next?" he asked quietly. Their reactions were so different, and for a team of SAS men, quite amusing.

Eagle jumped about five feet in the air and when he came down, raised his hands high above his head and repeatedly said, "Don't shoot! Don't shoot!"

Leopard just went stiff. Snake jumped about three feet in the air and said, "I'm a medic, don't kill me! I'm useful."

Wolf's was disappointing though. He just turned around and acknowledged Alex.

"Cub, where've you been and how long have you been following us?"

"I was working while you were shooting and I followed you here from the firing range," replied Alex, slightly impressed with Wolf's reaction. The man hadn't even looked shocked.

Internally, Wolf was reeling. Cub had been following them from the shooting range and they hadn't noticed him? The kid must be very good. He was also a little unnerved that Cub had been able to slip after them and make no noise, at all.

Snake recovered quickly.

"We're going to Barrack 28 for Martial Arts," said person stated. "You do Karate don't you?"

Alex nodded the affirmative.

"Good. We all do Karate and the team we train with also do Karate."

Eagle slowly lowered his arms and turned to glare at Alex, who had hoped to never see that look on Eagle's face ever again. Apparently it was not to be.

"Don't scare me like that, Cub. It's not good for my heart," he said theatrically.

Leopard relaxed at glared at Alex, saying nothing.

Wolf grunted and started walking again, the rest of K-Unit following. Soon they reached the Barrack. Alex entered and found another Unit there.

"Now, Cub," sneered Leopard. "The way this usually works is one person from each team spars against each other, then we spar against each other Unit on Unit. This is P-Unit, by the way. Bluejay, Tiger, Bear and Clownfish."

Alex sized each one up as their name was called.

Bluejay was small and obviously the team's leader from the way the others were grouped around. He had vibrant sapphire coloured eyes, a darkened complexion and his right ear pierced, currently sporting a small silver stud.

Tiger was tall with curly blonde, almost albino blonde hair. He had hazel coloured eyes and was all muscle.

Bear was tall and lean; he had a crooked nose that had evidently been broken quite a few times and strawberry blonde hair.

Clownfish had the look of an Arab about him, with muddy brown eyes and a darkened complexion. The whole look was topped off with a mop of wavy shoulder length black hair.

Alex nodded his head politely in their direction and received four glares his way.

Wolf was first. He spared against Bluejay. Both were very good, Wolf had weight and size advantage, but Bluejay was lither, quicker and slightly more skilled, which is what won him the fight.

Needless to say, Wolf disliked losing, but shook hands grudgingly with Bluejay at the end.

Next was Eagle versus Clownfish. As they took their stances, Alex noticed that Eagle was putting more weight on his right foot, all too obviously leaving his left foot lightweight to kick Clownfish.

Inside his head, Alex tutted. He would have noticed that a mile off. Alex also noted that, while these men were training to fight for their lives, they didn't fight properly, as if their life depended on it.

Alex was jolted out of his thoughts to see Clownfish admitting Eagle had won and Eagle letting him out of the headlock he'd held him in a few moments ago. They shook hands respectfully and each went to stand with their teammates.

The following match was between Leopard and Tiger. Alex could see at once that Leopard was very skilled at what he was doing; Tiger hadn't a chance of winning the fight.

Alex's prediction came true a few minutes later when Tiger admitted Leopard had won. Said person and Leopard shook hands.

Bear stepped forward, but the remaining member of K-Unit, Snake, didn't move.

"Cub, you can fight him," he said.

Alex nodded his assent and stepped towards the man, sizing him up.

"That's hardly fair," objected Bear.

"I think you should be able to handle little old me," Alex said, baiting him.

"Are you ready to be beaten, kid?" said Bear menacingly as he took his stance.

Alex wiped all emotion off his face, his eyes boring into Bear's as he took his stance.

"Not really," said Alex and waited.

Alex watched Bear's eyes. You could always tell what your opponent was going to do by looking into their eyes, he had learned, unless they have been trained not to show it. Bear evidently wasn't one of the select few, like Alex, that had been trained not to.

Bear shifted his weight ever so slightly onto his back foot. Alex's senses, including his sixth, told him danger was near. He watched in almost fascination as Bear's foot arced towards him.

Snake watched in horror. He'd thought Alex was competent in Karate, that being the reason he'd let him fight Bear. But the kid was just standing there, about to be squashed into the floor.

Just as Bear's foot was about to connect with Alex's chest, Alex stepped to the side, causing Bear to comically lunge forward and lose his balance. Alex made no move to attack, conserving his energy.

Bear's eyes widened in surprise and then confusion when Alex didn't retaliate.

Snake was shocked. The kid was fast, one minute he'd been about to be hit hard, the next, he was gone.

Alex resumed his stance. He saw Bear's punch a mile away and brought up an arm to block it, returning it with a punch of his own to Bear's stomach.

Bear dropped to the floor so fast gravity was still waiting to take effect. Alex stepped back into his stance.

Snake exchanged a look with Leopard. The kid was really good. That punch could have flattened a man not trained to be SAS.

Alex was in full fighting mode. "On your feet," he rasped at Bear.

P-Unit and K-Unit were shocked to hear such a commanding voice emanating from little Cub.

"This is the real world. Fight for real," Alex said, voice devoid of emotion and eyes hard and cold.

K-Unit and P-Unit exchanged worried and slightly puzzled looks now.

Alex had just discovered that he hadn't worked off all of his frustration from earlier as Bear climbed to his feet.

Alex attacked ferociously with uppercuts to his jaw and savage kicks to Bear's kidneys and ribcage. Bear put up a weak defence but was unable to strike back.

Bluejay muttered under his breath to Wolf, "Bear is the best in our group at Karate. That kid is really good. But are you sure he's entirely with it?"

Wolf, Snake, Eagle, Leopard, Clownfish, Tiger and Bluejay turned their attention back to the fight as Alex began speaking again.

Alex watched the attacks aimed at him as if in slow motion. They were skilled, but lacked speed.

Bear was swaying where he stood now, one more blow would finish him off.

"What does it feel like," said Alex softly. "To know that you have failed? To know that because of your incompetence, you have lost? You're lucky. All you lose is the match. Fight for your life and maybe you might win. If your teammates' lives depended on it, would you fight better? Would you?"

Eventually, Alex saw that Bear wasn't going to end this, and they needed to practice as a Unit so he said, "Enough. Well done, you fought well in the end," he and held out his hand.

Bear shook it. "My word, kid! That was some fight! How'd you get so good?"

"Classified," said Alex, he voice brooked no argument.

Alex then strode back to K-Unit, who all watched him with something like respect.

Leopard stepped forward to meet him. "Instead of Unit against Unit, I think we should see how long Cub holds up against both Units," he said.

Bear was sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall. "I can't fight," he said.

Bluejay nodded, "Alright but Bear sits this one out."

Wolf took a defensive stance and so did the rest of K-Unit and P-Unit.

Alex was surrounded by them, he had the wall to his back, K-Unit to his right and P-Unit to his left, save Bear who was sitting on the floor leaning against the wall trying to get his breath back.

Alex felt the adrenaline flowing through his veins as he took his defensive stance.

Tiger attacked first. Alex watched his blow come closer and lashed out at Tiger's hand with his foot, taking him by surprise, and throwing him off balance. Alex pulled hard on Tiger's arm, toppling him towards Alex, then hit a painful pressure point in his thigh and swept his feet out from underneath him, effectively grounding him within a few minutes.

Alex put his back to the wall once again and half closed his eyes, letting his senses take over.

Wolf could not believe what he was seeing. Cub was surrounded by seven, well six now, men who he knew where trying to beat him up, and the kid stood there and closed his eyes! The nerve.

Wolf decided to end things quickly. He attacked Cub with a forceful punch that never landed.

Alex had let his senses take over; they had saved his life more than once after all. He felt a punch coming towards him and dodged it and then retaliated with a knife hand to the sternum and a few uppercuts to the jaw.

The person who had attacked him hit the floor with an expletive.

Alex sensed a combined attack coming his way, but not from the same person that had just attacked him, he was still lying on the floor muttering expletives.

Alex suddenly went cold. He knew that voice. He had just attacked Wolf. Not good, to say the least.

He opened his eyes in time to see Bluejay and Leopard coming towards him. Quickly, he jumped forward to meet Leopard, grabbing his arm and yanking him off balance.

Swiftly he pivoted on his foot and, with the strenuous use of his arm muscles, swivelled Leopard to act as a human shield from Bluejay's punch. Two seconds later, Leopard hit the floor beside Wolf, unconscious.

Alex attacked Bluejay, using a combo of uppercuts, knife hands and jabs, but was unable to knock him out, although he landed quite a few blows and received a kick to the shin, a few punches to his abdomen and one to his jaw.

Eagle joined the attack and Alex managed to hit a pressure point on Bluejay's shoulder that made him temporarily lose movement of his left arm while he dealt with Eagle.

It was over quickly; Alex winded him with a knife hand to the breastbone and then hit the nerve behind Eagle's ear, rendering him unconscious. Bluejay had recovered quicker than Alex thought he was going to and aimed at flying kick at Alex's jaw.

Alex turned quickly and was knocked to the floor by the force of Bluejay's attack.

Alex swiftly recovered and forced himself to stand. Gingerly he touched his jaw, and winced. That was going to hurt in the morning.

He looked around, Bluejay had landed and was standing opposite him in a defensive stance; Tiger, Wolf and Leopard were still lying on the floor.

Snake, Clownfish and Eagle came to stand around Alex.

Suddenly, Alex felt tired. Bone weary tired. Tired of the SAS, tired of fighting, just plain tired.

"You win," Alex said, lowering his arms and stepping out of his stance. He sagged forward, all of his previous exhaustion catching up to him, and leaned against the wall closest to him, not bothering to hide his weakness now.

"Good fight," he managed to force out past his lips. Surprisingly, he got six looks of respect his way and two glares. Yep you guessed it, Leopard and Wolf.

P-Unit trouped out a minute, saying something about target practice.

Alex by this point, had recovered himself and asked Snake which Barrack they were going to next.

"We're going to Barrack 44," Snake said. "As I'm Head Medic, I'll be the one giving the lecture."

Alex nodded his head to show he understood.

Wolf grunted and walked out the door, the rest of K-Unit following. Long before they reached the Barrack, Alex heard the men's voices, and prepared himself to slip in unknown at the end again.

As they rounded a Barrack, they caught sight of the rest of the men waiting to be let inside. Snake began pushing through the crowd and Alex tried to slip into the Barrack's shadow.

Eagle turned to ask Alex a question about shooting as they wormed their way through the other Units, and found that he was about to disappear. Quietly, he grabbed hold of Cub's elbow and said, "Where are you going?"

Alex answered him with a glare, then wrenched his elbow out of Eagle's grip and marched on in front of him.

Alex heard the whispers start as he walked towards the door.

"A kid? You're joking me. What's he doing here?"

"Don't judge on appearances, Jackal. I was talking to Hawk and Mouse earlier and apparently that kid hit the bullseye every time."

"Really?"

"Yeah, and…"

And then there was,

"Looks like the kid took a wrong turn when he was walking to school. Why's he here?"

"Dunno, Frog. Though there's rumours though, that…"

Honestly, Alex thought to himself, they're no better than the gossips back at Brooklands.

The lecture passed quickly. And to Alex's relief, the men soon forgot about him and concentrated on what Snake was saying.

It was on how to treat a bullet wound, ironically. Alex had already learnt all about that with Scorpia, but wanted to see how Snake would explain it, so he paid attention.

At the end of it, he found that while Snake had explained everything, he hadn't gone into every little detail about it.

But there lies the difference between Scorpia and the SSAS. To Scorpia, if you get a bullet, it had to be treated and sometimes removed, immediately and efficiently by the person who most likely had been hit by the bullet, or his partner in the field.

For the SAS, it was more than likely that they needed to know the basics of preventing too much blood loss before having it looked at the closest hospital, save the medics, like Snake.

A Scorpia agent couldn't exactly walk into the nearest hospital and ask for treatment, if he did, he was signing his death warrant, basically. Or prison statement.

Alex tagged along at the back of K-Unit, lost on his thoughts. Dinner was pretty much the same.

SAS men called out comments while Alex ate little and threw the rest in the bin then waited for K-Unit before leaving.

As he walked through the door of his Barrack, Alex rushed over to his bed straight away and collapsed face down on it, not caring if K-Unit were looking at him.

Wolf was looking at his file again.

"Hey Cub," he said.

Alex wearily raised his face and said, "What?"

"Seeing as you haven't got fitness in a few, you can go to sleep."

Alex was shocked into the land of the living with that statement and was instantly on his guard. Wolf? Being… well, not exactly kind, but considerate? Something was going on. He scrutinised Wolf's face, and found nothing but consideration there.

So he did another face plant onto his bed and stayed that way until K-Unit left for Fitness.

As soon as the door closed behind them, Alex sprang up from his bed agilely and ran to Eagle's bed. Swiftly he searched it and his belongings, taking care to put everything back exactly as he had found it. There was nothing suspicious there.

He checked Leopard and Snake's stuff consecutively but found nothing there either.

There was nothing suspicious in Wolf's things either, although he did discover something worthwhile.

Among Wolf's various coloured tops that were all the same cut, he found six manila folders.

Two were his, so he placed them back into the container that Wolf kept his things in.

He opened the first and was confronted with a fact sheet on Eagle, basically.

Curious, he opened the others. They all contained information on the other team members.

He read them all, thinking that it only fair, seeing as they had all read his. Eagle's first. His read,

**Neal Smith-Eagle (1)**

**Full Name: Neal Andrew Smith**

**Codename: Eagle**

**Age: 24**

**Abilities: Is an accurate sniper with most guns. Has extensive training in Karate and First Aid.**

**Assignments: 5 in total. 2 completed in England, 3 in Iraq.**

**Health: In shape. See medical file.**

**Status: Works for SAS. (Team; K-Unit). Currently on training leave due to team member's injury.**

Alex looked for his medical file, but couldn't find it. Eventually he concluded that Sergeant probably had it.

Eagle's file didn't really tell him much about the man at all, but he supposed that each SAS man was allowed to choose what he wanted put into or taken out of his file.

Next was Snake's.

**Jake Clocherty - Snake (2)**

**Full Name: Jacob (Jake) Quinton Clocherty**

**Codename: Snake**

**Age: 27**

**Abilities: Is an advanced medic. Has training in Karate and thorough training in First Aid. **

**Assignments: 5 in total. 2 completed in England, 3 in Iraq.**

**Health: In shape. See medical file.**

**Status: Works for SAS. (Team; K-Unit). Currently on training leave due to team member's injury.**

Well that didn't tell him much either, and it was pretty much identical to Eagle's. He turned to the one next in line. Leopard's said,

**Daniel Munroe-Leopard (3)**

**Full Name: Daniel Oliver Munroe**

**Codename: Snake**

**Age: 25**

**Abilities: Has extensive training in Karate and is near fluent in Spanish. Also speaks a bit of German. Is briefly trained in First Aid and has short training in explosives. **

**Assignments: 5 in total. 2 completed in England, 3 in Iraq.**

**Health: In shape. See medical file.**

**Status: Works for SAS. (Team; K-Unit). Currently on training leave due to team member's injury.**

Alex was beginning to have a feeling of déjà vu now. Sighing, he closed Leopard's file and turned to the last one that could only belong to one person. Wolf.

**James San Luca-Wolf (Unit Leader: K) (4)**

**Full Name: James (Jaime) Pablo (5) San Luca**

**Codename: Wolf**

**Age: 28**

**Abilities: Is fluent in Spanish and nearly fluent in French. Has training in Karate and in First Aid. **

**Assignments: 5 in total. 2 completed in England, 3 in Iraq.**

**Health: In shape although might be hindered by gunshot wounds to the arm, chest and shoulder a few months ago. He has also obtained two gunshot wounds to the right leg (thigh and calf) recently. See medical file for further information.**

**Status: Works for SAS. (Team; K-Unit). Currently on training leave due to injury.**

Alex stared at the page. Wolf had got quite a few holes in him. He knew about three in his arm, chest and shoulder. He had gotten those when he had burst in on Mrs Stellenbosch and his chat at Academy Point Blanc.

Maybe he had gotten the other two in Iraq on an assignment?

Alex's brain was too tired to think at this point. He put the files back and arranged the t-shirts on top of them in the same way he had found them. Then he shoved the container underneath Wolf's bed and climbed back into his own.

He was asleep in minutes.

**********************************************************************************************************************************************

**Scorpia HQ, Washington DC**

"You better not screw this one up," said the man who had made the phone call earlier to his partner who was checking all his gear.

"Aww, what did Mr Kroll say to you this time?" chuckled the man as he slotted in a few more bullets.

"He threatened my life if you don't do your job," the man muttered, turning away.

"Then you have nothing to worry about. I never miss," said the man, and walked through the door, closing it with a bang behind him.

The man left in the office sighed and rubbed his head. Oh yeah, no need to worry.

**********************************************************************************************************************************************

**A/N:**

**(1)Neal Smith I borrowed off amitai who hopefully will let me live to finish the story at least.**

**(2) I partially made this one up. My friend threatened to partially kill me if I didn't put something twilight related in it, so I used Jacob's name.**

**(3) This one I made up although I borrowed Munroe off X-Men creators from Ororo Munroe's name.**

**(4) OK I borrowed his name off the wonderful amitai, who I hope will not kill me, but seriously, my imagination goes blank when it comes to naming things. **

**(5) Pablo!!!! What an AWESOME name. I completely love this name and jumped at the chance to introduce it to my story. If you're name is Pablo and you're reading this, you rock.**


	8. You!

Chapter 8

You!!!

Brecon Beacons

Alex woke gasping for air. This nightmare had been more explicit than the last one.

This time he was being slowly strangled by an attacker, whose face he couldn't see.

Swiftly, his brain established the fact that he was at Brecon Beacons and that it was dark outside.

Alex panted quietly as he tried to steady his breathing while not alerting K-Unit to the fact that he was awake.

Quickly, he looked around to find each of them in their respective beds sleeping. Wolf was snoring heavily, Eagle was drooling on his pillow, Snake was sprawled out all over his bed and Leopard was lying on his front, head turned to the side so that he could breathe.

Alex felt his stomach heave and turn. As quickly but as quietly as possible, under the circumstances, he got out of bed and headed for the door, hand clamped firmly over his mouth.

At last! He made it to the door and tried to close it quietly behind him. Then he ran for the toilet block. Alex reached the toilet block and streaked straight towards a cubicle.

Gratefully, he leaned over the side of a toilet and emptied what was left of his dinner into it.

Shaking, Alex sat down on the floor and rested his head against the side of the toilet cubicle. What was happening to him? He had never thrown up from a nightmare before. Maybe it was the food here?

The thought of food had him leaning over the white porcelain bowl again; dry heaving this time, as his stomach had nothing left to offer.

It was a few minutes before Alex stopped dry heaving and a few more after that until he recovered himself enough to flush the toilet and rinse his mouth out from water from the tap (also known as a faucet).

After he had finished rinsing his mouth, Alex splashed some water on his face, to clean the sweat from the nightmare off his brow. It was then he looked in the mirror.

Alex saw his pale face, blond hair and brown eyes. He recognised those features, he had been looking at them in a mirror for some years.

What he didn't recognise, was the look in his eyes. They were bottomless holes, haunted. They had seen things that no man, never mind _teenager_ should have to look upon. This was why Alex avoided mirrors, they told him the truth.

And the truth was, he could never be normal, never fit in. He could never be_ just _a schoolboy. Never _just_ a teenager.

But the thing that disturbed him most? The fact that, even though this place was hell, he felt more comfortable here than at Brooklands. Here, he didn't have to hide; he was even accepted, well, tolerated, to a certain degree.

The Alex K-Unit and MI6 saw, was a completely different person to the one his classmates had seen, well until recent events.

Alex sighed and lifted his face away from the mirror. He had better slip back into the Barrack before K-Unit panicked.

Wiping all expression off his face, he turned his back on the mirror and walked out of the toilet block.

Washington DC, the Starbright's house, 2055 (08:55pm) their time

It was dark on the street; the man checked his breathing quietly as he settled down on the rooftop opposite the house. Now was not the time to lose his cool.

Not because he wanted his partner's life to be spared. In the world he lived in, people died every day; you were lucky if you survived long enough to actually be sent on a mission.

Not him, he had already completed 21 missions for Scorpia, and he was good at what he did.

He focused once again on the task at hand. If he didn't complete this mission, the consequences were going to be severe.

It was a simple job, kidnap the younger woman and hold her hostage; then bring her to a safe house on the border between Scotland and England. He would be given further instructions when he arrived.

The man had already reviewed the house's security and layout and could navigate it blind, if he needed to.

He detected a movement from the corner of his eye and turned his full attention back to the house.

It was her, the woman; the one he supposed to kidnap. He couldn't say her name, couldn't even risk thinking it. It would personify her to him them and she would be a human, not just an object.

She had just entered the sitting room with her mother and father. All three sat down, her parents on a sofa (1), her on an old armchair.

Her father turned on the TV and they all focused on the screen as a program came on. Through his binoculars, the man could see that it was Fox news.

He settled down to wait; it was going to be a long night.

******************************************************************************************************************************************

Brecon Beacons

Quietly, Alex creaked open the door to Barrack 11, stepped through and closed it behind him. It was darker inside than it was outside, so Alex stood there for a minute letting his eyes adjust.

When his sight became as clear as possible, he made his way to his bunk.

Alex sat down tentatively, hoping that squeaky bedsprings wouldn't give him away. They didn't.

The bed remained silent as Alex got back into bed and closed his eyes. He checked his watch. It read 0351.

Ten minutes later, when his watch read 0401, Alex was royally fed up. It was impossible to sleep, but he didn't want to risk K-Unit catching him out of bed again. They most likely wouldn't buy the same story twice and so Alex reclined on his bed, his hands supporting his head as he stared at the ceiling, thinking about Jack and his missions.

An hour and a half later, Alex heard Wolf stirring.

Out of habit, Alex closed his eyes, relaxed all his muscles and deepened his breathing. Cracking one eye open, Alex peeked to see Eagle gently shaking Wolf. Apparently only Alex was entitled to Eagle's special wake up call.

Alex was also a bit surprised. He would've pinned Eagle as being the last one to get up. But K-Unit was full of surprises.

Wolf's snores finally cut off as he woke up. Eagle moved on to Leopard and began shaking him awake too. As soon as Leopard was up, he moved on to Snake.

Eagle began with shaking, then moved on to poking and finally went for pulling the covers off Snake when he wouldn't stir.

Snake, eyes squeezed closed; groped blindly for his covers, and upon seeing them in Eagle's hand saw that it was pointless trying to get them back and got up, yawning.

Snake soon was wide-awake as he saw Eagle headed Alex's way.

"Eagle," he hissed, not unlike his namesake.

"What?" said person hissed back.

"You can't wake him up! Remember what happened last time?"

Alex saw that Eagle had ignored Snake and was still headed his way. Quickly, his fully closed his lids.

Eagle bent down so that his mouth was right next to Alex's ear. He took a deep breath.

Without moving, Alex sensed him and said, quietly, "I wouldn't if I were you."

Eagle near had a heart attack, he let out the breath he had taken in a whoosh of air that turned into a high-pitched shriek. Alex cracked open his left eye in time to see Eagle jump so high that the British Olympic team couldn't have jumped higher on the high jump.

Eagle was in mild shock, to say the least. If he hadn't seen Alex's lips move for himself, he would have sworn the boy was asleep; he still looked it now.

K-Unit by now, were all staring at Eagle with varying degrees of confusion.

"He…he…" gibbered Eagle, pointing at Alex. K-Unit looked over at Alex in time to see him open his eyes and sit up, no morning confusion at all.

Alex sat up to see K-Unit looking at him.

"Morning," he said politely, Ian had taught him that sometimes the best way to annoy your adversaries was to be overly polite to them.

Not that he was surprised when he got two glares from Wolf and Leopard. He was unprepared for Snake's polite nod in his direction and Eagle's proclamation, "Good morning! The day is early yet!"

It appeared he was still recovering from his NDE (2). Alex just looked at him, with an odd expression on his face. Either Eagle had just attempted to quote poetry or he was dreaming.

Alex slipped out of bed and buttoned on his camouflage army jacket, while the other men dressed in silence.

By now, it was around quarter to six. The four men and Alex walked over to the mess hall to get their breakfast. Alex was the last of them all to get his breakfast.

He was still thinking about his life in general. So when the SAS men called out unfair comments to him, they fell on deaf ears.

One of the men stood in front of Alex, a direct challenge to him. Alex, fully in the present now, lifted his eyes to the man's. His bord into the other man's eyes until the other man got uncomfortable and moved out of the way.

Alex stepped around him and continued towards where K-Unit were sitting.

Before he could pull out a chair, another man blocked his way.

"You can't sit here," sneered the man.

"Why not?" asked Alex. The whole mess hall and dropped in volume and Alex felt most of the eyes in the room on himself and the man opposite him.

"This is a place where soldiers sit. People who protect their country and people who have saved lives. What has a pipsqueak like you done? Saved someone from a caffeine overdose maybe?"

Alex was too weary to think of a witty comeback, and quite frankly, he wasn't bothered by where he sat, as long as he got food.

He moved out of the mess hall with his food in hand, avoiding the eyes of K-Unit and all the other men there.

Said Unit watched Alex go in silence.

"We should go sit with him," said Snake.

"No," said Wolf. "The kid has managed well so far. Let's see how far he goes before he breaks."

Eagle was strangely silent as he ate his food and Leopard was his usual cheerful self.

Alex made it outside before his stomach felt sick again. Alex swallowed down the bile and forced himself to eat at least half of what was on his plate.

Quietly, he slipped inside and deposited his plate and was out the door again before anybody had a chance to make fun of him.

His stomach didn't feel so good, so Alex decided to go for a walk. He checked his watch. It was 0603. He had twenty-seven minutes before he had to be back at the Cabin.

K-Unit would be busy eating and most likely wouldn't notice if he was gone.

Looking over his shoulder once more, Alex walked off quickly in the direction of the lake. He arrived at the edge.

Scuffing his foot against the edge of the rim, he sat down. Alex wasn't sure why he'd come here; after all, men would soon be arriving for a swim.

He supposed it was the quality of the water. Smooth, cool, dangerous but yet vital for life. Merciless and forgiving.

Alex stared into the water as if it could give him some answers to his problems in his messed up life. He laughed once, a dry sound. It felt strange; he hadn't had a reason to laugh in a while.

And his life was about to get better. The agent was most likely arriving today. When MI6 said a few days, you could expect the object, or agent, in this case to be there by the next day. If it was possible, hell on earth was about to get hotter.

******************************************************************************************************************************************

The rooftop opposite the Starbright household, early morning around 0300

The man checked his watch for the third time. Time to roll.

Quietly, he shimmied down the drainpipe attached to the roof that he had been crouched on.

He landed softly, absorbing the impact in the balls of his feet, just like he had been taught.

Swiftly, he darted across the street, a shadow that appeared to move of its own free will. He slipped into the shadows at the side of the house.

The woman he was supposed to capture was asleep in the bedroom with the window right above him.

Quickly, he gripped the drainpipe and hoisted himself using his stomach muscles. When he drew level with the window sill, he took out his tools.

A few minutes later, the window was still there, minus the glass. The man reached his hand through and undid the lock on the window. He then slipped, ninja like into the bedroom.

******************************************************************************************************************************************

Brecon Beacons

Alex rejoined K-Unit at their hut after his 'walk.' All four had expressions of indifference on their faces, as if Alex had never left.

The four men had been tidying up their living areas; they had become all lot less neater in the months Alex's had been away.

Alex stuff was already packed away so he sat on his freshly made bed and worried about the new agent's arrival, noting that an extra bunk had been pushed against the wall.

K-Unit finished packing away their stuff a few minutes before two short raps were made on the door and then it was flung open. Sergeant strolled in, his eyes taking in everything, including the way Alex was a little slow to stand to attention.

"Rider," he began.

"Yes, sir?" answered Alex.

"I been hearing rumours that you already speak the languages we provide."

"Yes, sir."

"Well then, you can be an assistant, a lecturer if you like. Have you been to Spain, Germany and France?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Today, you'll go to French," stated the Sergeant, his eyes did one last sweep of the room and then the door banged closed behind him as he left as quietly as he had entered.

Internally, Alex sighed. Just his luck. He was with Wolf then.

Wolf stomped out of the barrack with a grunt. Ales took that as permission to follow him and slipped out quietly after him, leaving the three remaining members of K-Unit to depart to their classes.

Barrack 57 was quite far away from K-unit's barrack, so Alex found himself, for the second time that morning, going on a walk.

The French teacher let them in and, as per usual, Alex filed in last. He took a seat at the back with nobody in the surrounding chairs.

The teacher walked over to the waiting desk and opened the folder he had been carrying under his arm.

He picked up the sheet on the top and appeared to be reading it, his facial expression deepening into a frown.

After a few minutes, he said, "Who is Alex Rider?"

Alex almost rolled his eyes. Here we go again. Quietly he put up his hand and said, "I am, sir."

"I have received information that you are to be a lecturer. Is this true?"

"Yes, sir."

""Well, then. What are you waiting for? Come up here and start lecturing!" barked out the teacher, who Alex had a bad feeling about.

Slowly, Alex stood and walked to the front.

He turned to face the roomful of SAS soldiers; opened his mouth and said, in fluent French, _"France is a country famous for it's cheese…"_

A few whispers followed his statement, obviously rumours about the kid who could speak Spanish had gone round base like a rumour did at school. Alex resisted the temptation to reprimand them several times as they interrupted him with their whispering.

And so it continued like that for about 10 minutes before the French teacher said, also in fluent French, _"Tell them something worth listening to, Alex."_

Alex broke off his sentence. Now what was he supposed to talk about? He'd already told the people in Spanish how to fire a gun properly, now what was he supposed to say?

All of a sudden, Alex had a brainwave. He'd already given the lecture to the people in _Spanish,_ but the people in French hadn't heard it.

Alex's mind raced, trying to remember what he had said, as he opened his mouth and addressed the class in fluent French, _"When shooting a gun, it doesn't matter what make, try and imagine the gun as part of you. Raise the gun and fire, but with you're eyes closed. Work your way up to the point where you are able to open your eyes at the last moment and the bullets hit the centre every time. Deep breathing also helps…"_

And that was how Alex found himself repeating the lecture he had given the men in Spanish. Alex tried as hard as he could not to look at Wolf throughout the whole thing.

At last, the two hours were over and Alex was free to go.

Actually, he could shoot while they were at therapy and doing the Killing House Exercise and then do his schoolwork while they did fitness.

Alex headed over to the shooting range after Wolf rudely demanded from him, "Where're you going?"

To which he replied, "Shooting range," and walked off.

In the back of his mind, Alex could hear a small voice worrying over the new agent's arrival, like a dog hounding away at a bone; not letting go of it altogether.

As firmly as he could, he shoved that worry to the farthest corner of his mind. How was he supposed to focus if he was distracted?

Alex waited at the edge of the firing range, watching men shoot. There was something vaguely familiar about four men at the end.

And that's when Alex recognised S1-Unit.

Hawk was shooting with a long-range rifle, and not doing to badly. Actually, Eagle might consider him a threat.

Heron was at about the same level as Snake; Wasp was, quite frankly, all over the place.

Almost ever single shot hit a different place, no pattern whatsoever.

Mouse was ok. The majority of his shots were close to the innermost ring, but few on it.

Alex walked over to the rack of guns. He decided to shoot with the same gun as he had the previous two times. Alex looked for his instructor but couldn't see any of them, never mind his.

He picked up 12 or 13 rounds and went to stand as far away from SI-Unit as was humanely possible.

Alex slotted in the first round, brought up the gun and started firing. Two hours and 15 minutes later, Alex had long used up the first 12 or 13 rounds. Now he was somewhere near 55 or something like that.

Out of the corner of his eye, he had seen SI-Unit leave about an hour ago.

Alex checked his watch. He could shoot for another 15 minutes or so and then he had to go do homework.

If he wanted to be bad, he could go grab a bite to eat or something. How the SAS men survived without lunch he didn't know. Maybe they weren't entirely human.

Now that was a possibility.

Alex emptied the rest of the round in his gun into the targets in front of him that were already littered with bullet holes---all on the bullseye or very close to it. Sighing in regret, he cleaned out his gun and put it back on the rack.

In a few minutes, Alex reached Barrack 11 and walked inside, closing the door after him. He walked over to his bunk and got out his schoolwork. He had made sure, last time he was doing schoolwork, to put Maths at the bottom.

Alex shuddered just thinking about it. Loathsome subject, whoever invented it was obviously in league with Scorpia.

He shuffled through the papers sitting on top; work that he had completed yesterday, until he found some History and RE.

Alex sat absorbed in History. He must be the only teenager on earth who actually enjoyed schoolwork, besides Maths that is.

Time flew by and soon Alex had caught up in all his History and had completed an assignment due tomorrow, if he'd had school that is.

He'd almost caught up in RE, although he found it a little hard to stay awake in that subject.

What they were _supposed_ to be being taught was interesting, it was the fact that the teacher, Mr McCabe, would get halfway through a sentence before realising that what he was talking about had something to do with Egypt and start talking about his various travels to Egypt while the class dozed or doodled on the back of their hands or on the margins in their books.

Alex put away all his work into his folders and then packed them away in his suitcase and shoved the suitcase under the bed.

Alex then jogged over to Barrack 28 for Karate. He was the last one to arrive., everyone else was almost finished warming up.

Leopard sneered at him.

"Late, Cub? What's the matter? Can't tell time?"

Alex didn't bother replying to that. Now that it was well past midday, the agent could be arriving anytime soon. He began going through his katas and soon was fully warmed up, but as taught as a bow string.

"P-Unit won't be joining us today. They received a new assignment and have already left, so it's just us," Wolf began. "Leopard, I'll fight you. Snake, you spar with Eagle and Cub, you can watch and learn."

Alex, normally would have been indignant at being the one to sit things out, but he was so tense that he decided that it was probably for the better that he did.

He sat down on the floor; closed his eyes as he tilted his head back and leaned his head against the wall.

Alex listened to the sound of K-Unit fighting, punctuated with the sound of the occasional shout in Eagle's voice as supposed person got hit or a whooshing noise as air was forced out of someone's lungs by a kick or a punch.

Then he heard something different, a sound he had been dreading all day.

The growl of a car pulling up outside and the engine turning off.

The crunch of a man's boots on the ground outside.

The sound of a knock on the door.

The sound of K-Unit stopping fighting.

The creak of hinges as the door was opened slowly.

The sound of a voice questioning,

"K-Unit?"

Alex opened his eyes and looked at the door. Then stared and stared.

Standing in the doorway, was Ben Daniels.

"Wolf!" Ben exclaimed and strode towards said person, not seeing Alex on the floor. "It's good to see you again!"

Wolf stepped forward, unsure, and said, "Fox? What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I'm on leave of mission at the moment and the number ones decided I should top up on my training."

"Fox!" Eagle squealed and bounded across the room to hug him. "I've missed you!"

"Good to see you haven't changed, Eagle," choked out Ben through the stranglehold that Eagle perceived as a hug.

Snake came over to give Ben a slap on the back after Eagle had released him.

"How're you keeping? Are you fully recovered from your bullet wounds? Do they cause you any pain?" he questioned.

Alex watched Ben roll his eyes. "I'm all good, Snake. You can stop giving me the third degree. They were nothing major, anyway. I worked with a agent that had survived a shot near the heart and the day he was discharged, he was given a mission."

Alex tensed. Ben must be talking about him. He'd always suspected that Ben knew his history, but this confirmed it.

Snake was shaking his head. "Sometimes I wonder if your employers are homicidal or insane."

Alex noticed that while the three original members of K-Unit crowded around Ben, Leopard made no attempt to approach him. Alex wondered if there was any enmity between them.

Those thoughts were soon dispersed when Fox said, "Leopard! How's the clan, cousin?"

Alex raised his eyebrows. This was a new development. Ben and Leopard were cousin?

Alex was shocked further when Leopard actually smiled and clasped Ben in a brotherly hug, saying, "It's been too long, cousin. The clan is fine. Mary's been asking where you disappeared to though."

Eagle meanwhile was talking at such a speed that it was hard to make out half of his words. "This is amazing! It's like a big K-Unit reunion. Everybody's here now that you've arrived Fox. First Cub, now you. MI6 must be making this a habit."

Ben's ears had picked out the word 'Cub'.

"Cub's here?" he said, voice low.

Alex stood up. The movement drew Ben's eyes to him. "Alex!" he exclaimed, thoroughly shocked to see Alex here. He examined the kid as he walked towards him. He was thinner and paler than Ben remembered but didn't pass a comment on it.

"Ben," Alex said warmly, walked over and shook hands with said person.

K-Unit were looking between Alex and Fox in confusion.

"You two know each other?" growled Wolf, angry because he didn't know what was going on.

"Give it a rest, Wolf," laughed Ben and turned his attention back to Alex. "How've you been?"

Alex considered the question. "Okay thanks. They didn't tell me that you were the agent they were sending."

Eagle took this pause in the conversation to intervene. "I don't know about the rest of you," he said, indicating to K-Unit, "But I'm lost. How do you know each other?"

Ben looked at Alex and answered, "We did a mission together a month or so ago. Actually, I got the bullet wounds protecting Alex."

K-Unit turned their gazes on Alex.

"So, are you going to join in, Fox?" asked Leopard, eventually, breaking the awkward silence.

"I'm sure I can meet you're standard," said Ben.

"Ok," said Wolf, taking charge. "Cub, you can spar with Fox."

Ben wore an evil smile on his face, "This is my lucky day. Let's see if your reflexes are as good as they were a month ago."

K-Unit stood to the side of the Barrack as Alex and Ben took their stances in the centre.

Warily, the circled each other.

"So Alex," said Ben, trying to distract said person. "Have you been on another mission?"

Alex snorted, "What do you think, Ben? If it hadn't been for who you pretended to work for undercover, I would probably be in Colombia or somewhere."

Ben was momentarily distracted, "What?" he said; and that was Alex needed to attack with a series of deadly blows to Ben's body.

Ben stumbled back after Alex's barrage, but quickly recovered himself and fought back, managing to grab Alex's ankle and fling him up in the air.

Alex had a serious feeling of déjà vu, but he tucked his legs in and tumbled back down to earth, spreading his limbs at the last minute and landed in a crouch.

Alex grinned at Ben, as he turned to face him. "C'mon, Daniels. You getting old?"

Ben glared at Alex and stood up, out of his defensive position. "Not fair. I didn't get your training. Although, I don't remember you being this good in our last fight."

Alex glared at him. "That was unfair! I wasn't prepared," he said, and stepped out of his defensive posture.

K-Unit's heads bobbed from Ben to Alex and back to Ben as the conversation progressed. Snake thought it was strongly reminiscent of watching a ping-pong game.

Wolf exploded. "WOULD SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT?"

Alex and Ben had been so focused on their fight that they had forgotten their spectators.

Alex automatically slipped back into the Alex that K-Unit had previously seen, quiet and unimportant. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Ben opening his mouth to answer and said quickly, "Ben decided to surprise me when we were on the mission that's all."

Alex saw Ben turn and give him a long look that promised that they would talk about his later, but nod slowly, going along with his story.

"I've already been to see Sergeant," said Ben, blatantly changing the subject. "He agreed to give you the rest of the afternoon off to let me 'catch up' with you, as he put it."

"YAY!" sang Eagle.

Wolf merely grunted and Leopard nodded.

Snake just smiled, probably pleased at the aspect of no work for the rest of the day.

Alex was a little bit worried, but didn't show it.

"What are we waiting for?" sang Eagle in glee. "Let's go to the Barrack so that Ben can tell us all the important and top secrety stuff he's done!" and bounded towards the door, followed by a laughing Snake and a scowling a little less Leopard, leaving Ben, Alex and Wolf together in the room.

Wolf slowly started towards the door. Ben walked beside Alex and said in a low voice, "Do they know?"

Alex looked pointedly at Wolf's back and said, in the same low voice, "Tell you another time."

Ben frowned but let it go.

All of K-Unit and Alex got into the back of the car he had heard pull up, and Ben in the front.

Two minutes later, they were all standing inside Barrack 11, watching as Ben unpacked.

Alex looked suspiciously at a couple packets of bubble gum that Ben had.

Ben caught him looking at them, and laughed. "No, Alex. It's just ordinary gum," he said, to the confusion of K-Unit.

Alex nodded his head in reply, leaving K-Unit in major confusion and exasperation and Ben almost in tears of laughter.

Alex did the first teenagerish thing since coming to Brecon Beacons, he huffed.

"It's not my fault," he said, sitting down on his bed and crossing his legs.

A few minutes later, Ben had put everything away in its respective place and sat down on his bed.

"Tell us everything," commanded Wolf.

Ben took a deep breath and began to speak.

******************************************************************************************************************************************

Inside Jack Starbright's room, Washington DC, 0309 am

The man was careful not to make any sound as he crept towards the sleeping woman from behind.

Quickly, he hit the pressure point behind her head and counted to ten, just to make sure she was unconscious.

Swiftly, he rolled up a ball of Scotch tape that he had kept in one of his various pockets along with rope, and placed it on her tongue, then wound rope around the outside, ensuring her silence when she woke up.

With the same type of rope, he bound her ankles and hands tightly. Then he slung her over his shoulder, fireman style and crept back over to the window.

He slipped through it and shimmied down it, placing the woman on the ground before climbing up it again to refit the glass pane.

This was the hardest part of the job, getting out.

Time seemed to drag by slowly for the man, but at last he managed to put the window back in and slip back down the drainpipe.

He picked up the woman and slung her back over his shoulder, then he began running, as silently as he had appeared with her as a burden.

But the man didn't let her weight slow him down. He had carried heavier before.

When he was a few streets away, he dug out a radio communicator and spoke into it, "Target has been retrieved."

"I will be there momentarily," was the reply.

The man slipped the radio communicator back into his pocket and set off for the arranged meeting place, quite a number of blocks away.

He had been correct in his judgement. The night had been a long one, and had yet to end.

**A/N; **

**I admit it. I should be revising, well actually I'm passing off writing this on my laptop as English revision at the moment. Shhh!! Anyway, I just wanted to say thank you to those who are following/monitoring this story and to all the people who've reviewed.**

*****A special thank you to the person who left a review under the name of Alo Amicus. Thank you sooo much for spotting that mistake. Soz for that people, by the way. I made a MAJOR mistake in the last chappie. Blame my beta, it's all his fault for not telling me.*****

(ok actually don't, it was my fault!---cringe---)

A word to Niko---I already have a pen drive---unfortunately it's full with coursework stuff and all that joy; and I really don't want to mix my fic with schoolwork, but thanks for your suggestion of emailing it to myself---didn't think of that!

**(1) for those of you in stars and stripes, sofa translates couch. **

**(2) NDE is a professional way of saying Near Death Experience; y'know---with the tunnel and light and all? No? ok then…**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

**Revelations**

Brecon Beacons

"There isn't very much I can tell you guys about my missions, because of the Official Secrets Act and all that; but I can tell you that I've been on three," Ben said.

Alex tensed a little at that, he just hoped that Ben would leave his part in his mission out of it.

K-Unit, on the other hand, looked interested. They hadn't managed to get anything out of Alex so far about MI6.

"My first mission was pretty easy; I just had to do some surveillance on this person. I don't think I can tell you their name," Ben said, seeing the question in Wolf's eyes.

Alex looked a little worried and very tense, Eagle looked interested, Snake looked interested and Leopard looked a little bit interested, which Ben knew translated into virtually bouncing up and down in impatience in a normal person's body language.

He continued, "The second mission was my one with Alex, basically just surveillance although I did see a bit of action near the end of it." Downplaying the drama.

K-Unit looked disappointed; Alex nearly smiled and had to reign in his emotions. Obviously they had been hoping for Ben to go into more detail about his missions so far.

"But that's only two!" cried Eagle, looking sad that the show and tell was almost over. "You said you'd been on three!"

Ben's face closed. Alex recognised that look. The look that said, I've-just-experienced-something-horrible-and-I-really-don't-want-to-talk-about-it to a trained eye.

But to K-Unit, it was an excellent poker face.

"I don't feel like discussing it," said Ben. "All I'll tell you is that I was undercover and that I've developed a hatred for latex."

The SAS men just looked at Ben, faces blank. And Alex started laughing. He just couldn't help it.

The SAS men had no idea what Ben was talking about.

K-Unit were looking at Alex in surprise. He was actually laughing. Wolf hadn't been sure if the kid was possible of doing so. He was always so serious.

Alex's laughs receded to chuckles and then wheezes after a few moments as he recovered himself.

Ben grinned at him wryly and then turned to the rest of the room, "Latex is used to make fake faces, which is what I had to wear."

Eagle looked very sad that Ben's show and tell was over, but then he visibly brightened up and Alex was wary once more. Whatever made Eagle happy was most likely to make him exactly the opposite.

Alex was proved correct when Eagle said, "I know! Cub, you can tell us about your missions now!"

Alex set his face in stone. "No," he stated firmly. He was not going to be pressured into telling them.

"Please Cub?" begged Eagle. "You don't have to give us detail, just answer yes or no or briefly go over what you did, like Fox just did."

Alex resisted the urge to roll his eyes and sighed internally. Would no never be a NO to these men? It seemed he had to more specific.

"No," Alex reiterated firmly. "I said no and I meant it; besides, technically I can't. I signed the Official Secrets Act."

"Cub," growled Wolf, warningly.

"Alex, as long as it doesn't compromise British security, you can tell them about your mission, don't you know that?" Ben said quietly, equally as curious as the rest of his team mates about Alex.

"I don't want to talk about it," muttered Alex, getting up from his bed and moving to stand at the tiny window beside his bed.

"Fine, we'll ask the questions and you can choose to answer or not," said Snake seeing that neither side was going to back down. "As Ben just said, Cub, you _can_ tell us a little about your missions."

Alex couldn't think of a reason not to answer their questions and nodded reluctantly. He turned back to the rest of the room, arms folded across his chest, leaning against the wall in what Snake recognised immediately as defensive behaviour.

Alex supposed it wouldn't hurt to have them know a little more about him, as long as he got information in return.

"Only if I'm allowed to ask you all questions afterwards."

K-Unit nodded their heads in acceptance of his terms.

Eagle asked the first question. "So, _have_ you been on a mission?"

Alex, again, got that same feeling of déjà vu, he felt like he was back in the classroom when his 'friends' had asked him questions.

"Yes," Alex said, keeping it short and sweet.

"How many?" cut in Snake.

"Five," muttered Alex, not sure if dealing with Damian Cray counted as a mission. After all, he had gone after him himself. He had chosen to get involved; and the same with Scorpia, although it did turn out to be a mission in the end.

"Five!" said Ben. "I thought…well never mind."

Apparently, Ben knew snippets of his history, but not everything.

"I've never heard of an agent completing so many in under a year," said Snake.

Snake obviously agreed with Ben, "How long are your rest periods?" he asked.

Alex though quickly. "It varies," he said, his voice calm and even, giving no hint that he was lying.

Internally, Alex was angry and a bit surprised, _I'm supposed to get rest periods???!!!_

Alex turned his attention back to the present.

Wolf was asking a question, "Did you have to go undercover for any of them?"

Alex, at first, was so shocked that Wolf was asking a question of him, that he didn't reply.

Soon he collected himself and answered, "Yes, four times."

"Do you get weapons?" asked Eagle.

Alex pondered at the question. What did Eagle classify as a weapon? He was SAS, so he probably meant a gun then. Alex's eyes, if it were possible, grew colder. "No" he answered, flatly.

Taking a deep breath, he prepared himself for the next question. It was from Snake.

"Which mission was the one where you snowboarded down the mountain on an ironing board?" he asked.

"My second," said Alex warily.

"Dare I ask you why you snowboarded down a _mountain_ on an _ironing board_?"

"I couldn't find any snowboards," said Alex, straight faced.

"C'mon, Cub! Give a little here, would ya?" said Wolf in frustration, and immediately regretted it.

Alex's face hardened. Two could play at that game.

"I'm not saying anything else until I get some information out of you," he said determined not to say another word about his spy life until he got answers.

"Wolf, you're from Spain. Snake, your accent kind of gives you away. But where are you from, Eagle, Leopard and Ben?"

It was Eagle who answered. "We're all from England, like you. I'm from Manchester."

Leopard spoke up next, "I live around the corner from Ben. As I know you've probably picked up, we're cousins."

Ben just said, "I live in Newcastle, not that I see my house very often anymore."

Alex nodded in understanding and sat down on his bed.

"Have you been to Iraq?" was his next question for them.

"Yeah," shuddered Eagle. "It was blo- I mean, _really_ awful."

"How many missions have you been on?" asked Alex, remembering that he wasn't supposed to know that.

"Five," came Wolf's short reply, and with it came silence until Eagle broke the silence and asked Ben how he would compare MI6 training to SAS training; Snake, Leopard and Wolf joining in with the questioning.

Alex listened as the conversation dissolved into a dispute between Ben and Eagle over which agency was better, MI6 or MI5 along with the SAS.

That soon ended with Snake's timely intervention about the 'good old days', starting K-Unit commemorating their past training exercises and experiences. Alex started to do the same, except with his missions, finding that he could recall most happenings in vivid detail.

He was in the middle of being asked to go into space, when he was snapped back into the present with Eagle whining, "Ahh no!"

Snake sighed theatrically, "What did you forget this time, Eagle?"

"I'm supposed to think up a whole sheet worth of life or death situations, for German," Eagle said, all his vigour gone. He pouted, "It's so unfair. Why don't you guys get homework?"

Snake smirked at him, "Because we were smart and chose the language with the nicer teacher," and then went back to the conversation.

Eagle continued whining to himself under his breath as he got out a sheet of paper and pencil.

Ben, Leopard, Wolf and Snake were in the middle of an intense conversation about K-Unit's activities on stealth exercises, with Ben giving advice on how to get around cameras and how to spot them; not that that would be of very much use in the middle of a muddy field with no sign of civilisation around for five miles; but you never know.

Eagle looked more than slightly lost as he stared at the page and Alex took pity on him.

"Here," he said quietly, as he got up off his bed and walked over to Eagle's. "I'll do it."

Eagle looked at him.

"Thanks," he said, and Alex detected a slight note of gratitude in the man's voice.

Alex sat back down on his bunk and looked at what Eagle had put down so far.

He had –strangling- and –drowning-.

Very imaginative.

Alex thought of his own adventures and began to write in German.

Soon he had filled the page and handed it back to Eagle, who took it from him gratefully.

"Thanks Cub."

Then Eagle started translating what was on the sheet, and his face went white. He looked over to where Alex was sitting calmly on his bed, staring into space, ironically, thinking about his fight with Kaspar.

"Cub, these are a bit extreme," he said. Alex didn't hear him, still busy remembering.

"What did he put down?" asked Snake, curious.

Eagle translated some for him. "Fighting a bull, swimming with a great white shark, being crushed to death in a car crusher, being dissected alive and lots of others. Where did you come up with these, Cub?"

Alex was yanked back down to earth and quickly tried to shrug it off. "I've always had a good imagination," he said.

Eagle and Snake looked at him quizzically but let it drop for now, and so the conversation flowed while Alex sat and went back to reminiscing.

Soon it was time for dinner and bed.

All five men and Alex headed over to the mess hall, stopping several times due to the fact that someone would spot Ben and come over to talk

Eventually they made it and lined up for their food. Wolf was first followed by Snake, Eagle, Leopard, Ben and Alex last.

Alex was feeling a little better, but didn't want to become dependant on food again. Usually, he tried to eat as little as possible so that he was used to hunger, in case he was sent on a mission where food was scarce and also because every time he ate, it would remind him of sometime during a mission when he had eaten the same thing and send him through a series of flashbacks; usually bringing the food back up again.

Alex had even trained himself to the point where he could go without food for three days, and still be fully functional, although he had to drink more water.

Tonight was more of what had been served yesterday---mush.

Alex didn't mind because he had never been served mush before, except here of course.

K-Unit went and sat down at the table where they had sat this morning.

Alex watched them as he went to get cutlery. They had already started their meal without Alex and were busy talking and laughing.

They almost looked like a family.

The word family brought a lump to Alex's throat. His eyes became hard to see through due to the water that covered them.

He had never had close family.

After Ian had gotten his job as a banker and started disappearing, Alex had concluded that his job was more important to said person that Alex himself; and tried as hard as possible not to be a burden to him.

When Jack came along, Alex had someone who he saw as an older removed cousin, not mother or sister---they weren't _that _close.

And finally, with MI6. The partners he had worked with were not the best thing to go by.

Turner and Troy had obviously not wanted him around, and as for Ash, well the man wasn't even on the same side as Alex.

Alex swallowed twice and blinked rapidly. The man that had stood in his way earlier did so again, blocking his view of K-Unit.

He opened his mouth, but before he had a chance to speak, Alex interrupted him testily.

"I know, I know. I'm going, okay?" and with that, he slipped out from under the man's gaze, almost glad for the excuse to be alone.

Alex walked swiftly towards the exit, dumping his food in a bin on the way out, putting his dishes down beside the sink before stalking off. He couldn't have eaten it even if he'd wanted to in this frame of mind.

Alex stepped out of the mess hall into the evening. He glanced behind him once and then walked away, gaining speed as he ran towards the lake.

He reached the shore and sat down, cross-legged.

THIS – IS – THE – BEST – DIVIDING- LINE - IN – THE – WORLD – DON'T – YOU- AGREE?

Back in the mess hall, Ben noticed Alex's absence.

"Where'd Alex go?" he asked, surprised his friends had let him out of their sight.

"Oh he's probably outside," said Eagle, tactlessly, shovelling mush in his mouth like there was no tomorrow.

"But why? Doesn't he want to sit here with us?" questioned Ben, a bit confused.

Eagle sipped his drink, and replied, "Marmot says that only people who have saved their country, you know, soldiers who have saved people, can sit in here."

Wolf watched Ben's reaction in interest.

Ben's face turned red with anger. Marmot had been bullying Alex because he hadn't saved anyone's life according to them?

The kid had completed every single one of his missions, he knew that. He also knew that the kid had, quite frankly, saved the world, _seven _times, so two times were obviously not missions; and this guy was insulting Alex and Alex was just taking it?

Something was very wrong here; the Alex he'd seen on his mission was different to the Alex here, he knew that much.

Eagle thought he'd said too much as he watched Ben face go bright red in anger and said person started muttering under his breath, glaring at everything and anything around him.

THIS – IS – THE – BEST – DIVIDING- LINE - IN – THE – WORLD – DON'T – YOU- AGREE?

Alex sat there, soaking in the sun's last rays. A couple minutes later, he sighed and stood up.

He shed his clothes, save his boxers and dove into the lake. A swim was just what he needed at the moment.

Nobody was around to see his scar either, but that was just an added bonus. Alex struck out for the far side with a furious front crawl.

Alex did seven lengths at the same pace before getting tired. He decided that he should do this more often; go swimming when everyone else was eating.

It was one of two things that relaxed him here.

Alex got out and redressed, using his shirt as a towel before putting it on and buttoning up the army jacket over it.

Alex slipped back into the mess hall just as Ben looked up from his food. Ben noticed him and motioned for him to come over to their table.

Alex was a bit wary; Ben was scary when he was angry.

Slowly, Alex walked towards the table.

"Where were you?" Ben demanded as soon as Alex within earshot, not very quietly.

Quite a few SAS heads swivelled his way, too many for his liking.

Up close, Ben noticed that Alex looked even worse.

There were black bags tinged with purple under his eyes, contrasting awfully with his chalk pale complexion and his usually blond hair hung in wet strands over his eyes.

Ben idly wondered what he'd done to get it wet. Had he taken a shower or a swim in the lake, maybe?

The kid was also thin, way too thin for a teenager his age. It didn't escape Ben's notice that Alex looked very worried.

Alex shifted uncomfortably under Ben's penetrating gaze.

"I went down to the lake," he said truthfully.

"Let's take a walk," Ben said quietly.

"Ok," Alex said, a little bemused.

Ben cleared his dishes and then motioned for Alex to follow him. As soon as they left the mess hall, Wolf stood up.

"C'mon, I want to hear this," said person muttered, his eyes fixed on the door and started towards it, Leopard and Snake on his heels.

Eagle was left sitting at the table, mournfully torn between finishing his mush or hearing what Alex and Ben were saying. He chose Alex and sprinted after Wolf and the others.

**********************************************************************************************************************************************

Ben steered Alex out to the left of the mess hall, towards the woods. They walked in companionable silence to them, unknowingly stalked by the rest of K-Unit.

As soon as they had walked always into the woods, Ben spun to face Alex.

"Spill. Now," and then when he saw Alex's face he said, more gently. "I know who he was, Alex."

Alex's head shot up from its very extensive study of his shoe, Alex going into panic mode. Who was 'he'?

Ben elaborated, "The man I shot on Dragon Nine."

"Oh," was all Alex had to say, looking down again.

Wolf and co. arrived at this moment, hiding in the bushes. They were in time to here Alex say, "Oh," and look down.

"I'm sorry," said Ben, gently. "I didn't know."

"It's ok," said Alex. "It not like I knew him very well anyway. After the mission was completed, he would've gone back to Australia anyway."

"Why haven't you told them?" asked Ben.

"What?" asked Alex, lifting his gaze and playing the innocent card.

"Give over, Alex. Remember I saw part of your file, and there was definitely six folders, which means you completed six plus the one you did with me," said Ben.

"Fine, so I saved the world seven times instead of five, big wow," said Alex sarcastically.

K-Unit's members hiding the bushes raised their eyebrows at that, each thinking a bit of over exaggeration was going on.

Ben studied Alex for a long moment, again noting how much thinner he seemed since they last met.

"Are you alright, Alex? You're a lot paler and definitely much thinner then when I last saw you," asked Ben in concern.

"I'm fine," snapped Alex waspishly; Ben had touched a sore spot. Alex knew he looked different, had lost weight, but he was still healthy…well, to some extent.

"Have you had counselling for your missions?"

"What do you think?" snorted Alex. "I hate hospitals, why would I choose to spend more time in them. By the way, how did you find out that I got my mission the day I was discharged?"

Ben just sighed. "Mrs Jones told me about it before I made contact with you; besides I heard rumours about the incident anyway."

Alex raised his eyebrows at that and muttered, "Where ever I go, rumours follow me."

Ben looked at his quizzically, and Alex shook his head; then asked, "Did they take you to Malagosto?"

Ben stared at him. "They took you there?"

Both were referring to Scorpia.

Wolf, Leopard, Snake and Eagle were completely lost by this point.

Alex nodded his head, then hesitated and said, "How much do you know about that mission?"

"Only that you destroyed their operation and now that you went to Malagosto."

Alex nodded, grateful that Ben was being honest with him.

Suddenly, a thought filtered into Ben's mind, and he stared at Alex in horror.

"They didn't train you, did they?"

Alex glanced at him sharply, noting the change in tone.

"How much do you know about Malagosto?" he asked Ben.

"It's their training centre and that they use human pictures and cut-outs for targets," Ben said, knowing exactly what Alex was asking.

Alex remained silent, still looking at the ground.

Ben shook his head slowly. "I can barely understand them sending me in undercover, but you? That's just wrong."

"Yeah, well. Now you can see why I won't tell them about me. If you hadn't worked with me before on a mission, would you believe me if I said I'd saved most of the world seven times?" and upon seeing Ben's expression, "Didn't think so."

"Alex," said Ben softly.

Alex stared back at him with a hard expression.

"Alex, I translated the rest of Eagle's essay."

Alex looked at him surprise and then rattled off, **"You speak German?"**

"**Yes," **replied Ben, just as fluently,** "MI6 made me learn one language minimum."**

Wolf, hidden in the bushes, almost hissed in frustration. Now how was he supposed to figure out what they were saying?

Eagle was quickly scribbling something down on a pad of paper.

Wolf glanced at it, curious. Eagle quickly wrote, _It's what they are saying_.

And for once, Wolf was grateful that Eagle had chosen German.

Alex switched back to English. "And?"

"I remember a few details from your folder, and most of them happened to you, didn't they?" pressed Ben.

Alex turned away from him, embarrassed.

"No," he admitted in a low voice.

Alex turned around to see Ben shaking his head again. "I don't know why you can't trust me, but I guess I can in a way. We've both been through hell and back."

"Don't tell the rest of K-Unit what I told you, please?" said Alex, "They don't need to know."

Ben hesitated, "Snake should know about your injury," he said eventually.

In the cover of the bushes, Snake frowned, trying to remember what Ben had said earlier; about working with an agent that had gotten an assignment the day he got out of hospital for….Ahh! He couldn't remember. What had Ben said?

"It wasn't in my file," said Alex, "Or he would've said something by now," conveniently leaving out the fact that it had been HIM that had modified his file.

"Well, if they decided not to put that in your file, then I suppose so," muttered Ben, letting it go this time.

"Well, now that we've had our talk, let's get back to the Barrack before K-Unit think we've been kidnapped or something."

"Fine, but if you get any pain from it, tell me, ok? " said Ben and started walking off.

"Umm, Ben?" called out Alex after him.

Ben turned around and looked at Alex.

"The way back is that way," Alex said, and pointed in the opposite direction that Ben had been walking in.

**In a van driving towards the border between England and Scotland**

The phone rang, disturbing the tense silence that reigned throughout the vehicle.

"Answer that," growled the driver, the man that had captured Jack.

His partner climbed in the back of the van.

Their job had been done swiftly and silently, as ordered. The woman was tied up on the floor, knocked unconscious again after she had woken up and started screaming.

He answered the phone.

"Yes, sir?"

"We have located where Alex Rider is; we no longer have any use for the woman, but bring her to the safe house anyway. She could be used as persuasion."

The line went dead.

"What did he want?" asked the man in the front calmly, his eyes still on the road, searching for any sign of the authorities.

"They don't need her," here he jerked his head towards Jack as he climbed back into the front, "anymore. They found Alex Rider."

**********************************************************************************************************************************************

Brecon Beacons

Alex and Ben walked into Barrack 11 to find K-Unit sitting on each of their respective bunks.

Wolf was cleaning his gun. Eagle was juggling pieces of his gun, watched warily by Snake, and Leopard was sitting on his bed playing with a deck of cards.

Alex went straight to his bunk and laid down. His talk with Ben had been mentally exhausting.

K-Unit collectively breathed out a sigh of relief internally as neither of the spies seemed to treat them any differently than they had before dinner.

It had been quite a scramble to get back to the hut before Alex and Ben arrived, but they had made it.

Alex glanced out of his eye at K-Unit; something was different about them.

It wasn't very obvious but there was obviously something different in the way that they looked at Alex; they way that they looked at Ben as well, come to think of it.

Alex automatically went into panic mode; had they heard or been told something about him? Something that he had taken out of his file.

Almost as soon as he had thought it, he discarded it; he was being paranoid, nothing was different, it was just his imagination.

And with those thoughts, Alex climbed into his bed as fell asleep almost as soon as his head hot the pillow.

**********************************************************************************************************************************************

**A/N;**

**Ok, so I wasn't very happy with this chapter. I don't know why, something just seemed off about it. Oh, well. **

**I am playing the collector here, and am trying to read all fics involving K=Unit as a sorta dare. If you know of a fic, or have written involving K-Unit that's not on my fave stories that involves K-Unit, will you pls leave the name of it in your review or PM me the name. Thanks!**

**Good news: **

I now have two betas. One spell checks and gives suggestions for the storyline (usually I don't listen to these as they involve people being killed or Alex blowing up someone. Or something being blown up in general), and the other grammar checks and helps me with organising the ideas in my head, seeing as there's a lot of room for them where my brain is supposed to go. Thanks to both of them, you guys keep me alive and sane.

**Bad News:**

The saying 'School is hell and exams are an unnecessary evil' has reached a whole new level of understanding to me. Exams start tomorrow, *sighs* and (as an added bonus) I have a bl***y headache and sore throat. Be envious; admit it, you wish you were as lucky as me.

**Ok, moaning over…**

**I'm currently working on Chapter 10, but it's coming slowly because the plot comes to a fork in the road, if you want to say that. I can make it go two ways, and I'm still experimenting right now. Yeh, so it could take a while….**

***almost has an aneurism* NO FREAKING WAY!!!! Oh my gawsh! Thank you guys sooooo much!!! **

**Over 100 reviews! My life's ambition has been recognised obviously. Thank you so much to all my reviewers and please keep them coming, I live on those things!**

**Please keep R+R-ing! **

**(wow, this has got to be the longest authors note I've ever written. Evidently, almost not being able to speak does strange things to .)**

**Wild Child x**


	10. Or Not?

**A/N: This chappie is dedicated to ObsessivelyOdd for all their help and ideas---thanks you so much, you really helped undo a large chunk of writers block I had!**

**Massive thank you goes to my fabulous betas Cornflower Dolls and Krimin---what can I say? You guys are lege!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Alex Rider or any related characters. I mean, hello? Female here!**

**And now, proceed!**

* * *

**Chapter 10**

**…Or Not**

Alex ran. He ran as fast as he could, but he couldn't get away. He couldn't get away from _them. _Their grabbing hands reached for him and he gave up. He collapsed to the ground. The hands grasped his upper arms in a tight grasp and started shaking him, repetitively saying his name.

Ben was concerned. After transferring to MI6, he had been a light sleeper, especially since the Snakehead assignment and would be woken by the slightest noise.

So when he heard someone thrashing around and a high-pitched keening noise, he reacted automatically.

Literally jumping out of bed, he adopted a defensive stance and did a quick sweep of the room, relaxing when he saw what had woken him.

Alex was thrashing around in his bunk, obviously caught in the throes of a nightmare. The high-pitched noise was emitting from his mouth.

Ben figured he'd better put him out of his misery and made his way over to him, surprised that Alex hadn't woken the other members of K-Unit with his noise.

Ben grasped Alex's arms tightly and started shaking him gently, whispering his name.

Alex struggled in vain against his captor. His body was just too tired. He gave up and awoke.

Ben observed the teen's face as he regained consciousness. There was fear in those brown depths, and hatred as well, and then Alex seemed to recognise him.

Alex was shocked to see Ben's face hovering over his, but tried not to show it on his face.

"Ben?" he whispered, remembering where they were. "What are you doing?"

"You were having a nightmare and made a lot of noise," Ben explained at the same volume.

Alex relaxed, was that it?

"It's okay, Ben. Thanks for waking me up, but I'm fine now, you can go back to bed," said Alex, feeling the bile starting to build at the bottom of his oesophagus.

Clamping a hand firmly over his mouth, he pushed himself up out of bed and past Ben, not really caring if K-Unit woke up right now; all he needed was somewhere to empty his stomach.

As soon as he stumbled out of the door, Alex knew he stomach couldn't wait any longer. He fell to knees beside the nearest bush and vomited until he was dry heaving.

Alex wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and sat back, shaking slightly.

He closed his eyes and focussed on taking deep, steadying breaths.

Said person nearly jumped out of his skin when he became aware of another person's breathing next to him.

Alex snapped his eyes open and was half way up from the ground before he realised that it was just Ben and sat back down with an 'oomph.'

"You are NOT fine, Alex. I know you haven't seen a physiatrist, but have you talked to anybody about your missions?" said Ben, staring Alex down, daring him to say he was fine.

Alex glanced around nervously; he didn't want them to wake up anybody. He was already disliked enough, thank you very much, without complicating things more.

"Not really, but I'm ok with that. I don't want to see a shrink anyway," he whispered.

"Alex," said Ben in frustration, running his hands through his hair. "Please? Just tell someone; if not a psychiatrist then me or, I dunno---anyone. Trust me, talking about things helps."

Alex was apprehensive. Going by what he had heard so far, Ben hadn't had any experiences in the field like he had, well maybe he'd gotten a taste of it on the Snakehead mission, but that was it. Yes, Ben was nice, but he didn't understand, no matter how hard he would or could try.

As for the shrink, Alex didn't want some randomer poking and prying his thoughts apart, especially not if they were going to report everything he said, or didn't say, to Mrs Jones and Mr Blunt.

He was better at dealing with things by himself, the less people who knew what he'd been through the better.

By now, Alex had reluctantly accepted the fact that MI6 weren't going to leave him alone. There would always be an insane somebody and, of course, he would be the only person available for the job.

The job to stop them, that is.

"I'll think about it," said Alex, having already made up his mind and resolved not to talk to anyone.

The look of relief on Ben's face when he said that made Alex feel guilty for some strange reason. He quickly brushed it off; doubting yourself in the business could get you killed.

"Good," said Ben. "And I want you to tell me if this ever happens again, ok?"

Alex exhaled heavily, his mind searching for someway out of this, but finding none.

"Fine," he said shortly. Said person stood, turned his back on Ben and walked off towards the bathrooms.

Ben watched him go in silence, then turned to go back into the barrack.

**********************************************************************************************************************************************

**Inside the safe house roughly situated on the border between England and Scotland**

"My approval on your safe delivery of the woman," praised the man in a monotone. "Although she is of less worth to us due to current events, your job was done well. You can expect your payment next week. Dismissed."

The two men who had just delivered Jack walked out into the hallway. Once they had arrived, the woman was taken away to a cell and they had been shown to the 'office' to discuss their payment.

"What're you doin' now?" asked the man who had answered the phone in the van.

The other man merely grunted and mumbled something about bed. It was four in the morning after all.

The first man grinned. "Suit yourself. I'm away to the kitchen for a drop of liquor."

Both men departed to their separate destinations.

Back in the 'office', Kroll turned to the surveillance cameras. The woman was very passive, for a prisoner. Didn't she take care of a spy? Alex Rider at that. She had to have guts, so why wasn't she trying to escape?

She had woken up a few moments previous and had been sitting on the side of the bed ever since. Just sitting there holding her head and not moving much or making any attempt to escape.

The man was intrigued; although the woman was no longer essential, she was still fascinating. Alex Rider was in for a shock.

**Brecon Beacons**

Alex leaned over the sink and rinsed his mouth with water for the fourth time. He swished and spit.

Today was Saturday, that meant parachuting and then the rest of the day off. Not too bad then.

Here Alex faced a dilemma. What was he supposed to do for the rest of the day after parachuting?

He could do his schoolwork, he supposed, but he was caught up in most subjects due to his hard work except for maths, that is, so there really wasn't a point to that.

He could go to the shooting range, but most of the SAS probably went there to practice, or maybe it was because they liked blowing things up? An interesting theory… So that one was out as well.

Undecided still, Alex shoved the problem to the back of his mind to deal with later. As Jack would say, he'd cross that bridge when he came to it.

Alex splashed some water onto his face; then dried it on his sleeve, managing to avoid looking the mirror the whole time.

He walked out of the toilet block to be confronted with the early rays of the sun.

Alex closed his eyes and took deep breaths through his nose, liking the fresh scent of the morning. For a second or so, Alex forgot K-Unit, his past with MI6, his missions, his pain, his hurt and his loss.

And then it came crashing back to him along with reality in the form of a groggy Snake.

Snake peered at him blearily.

Fox had woken him up when he'd re-entered the barrack, accidentally slamming the door behind him. Snake knew perfectly well that once he was awake, that was it. Even if he was dog tired, his body wouldn't let him go back to sleep. Still, he had groaned but then rolled out of bed, desperately needing the toilet and made his way over here.

Alex stared at Snake in something akin to horror. Had he overheard Ben and his conversation? Alex frantically rewound through their exchange, trying to think of anything that might have given him away.

Snake set his mind at peace though when he said, "Mornin' Cub. Just got up and I really gotta use the throne." And with that, Snake staggered into the toilet block, leaving Alex in his wake.

Alex stared after Snake in slight confusion, then quickly rearranged his features and headed back to K-Unit's barrack. It would not do to be found out here all alone, even though he was fairly confident he could handle himself.

Quietly, Alex slipped through the door to Barrack 11, and walked over to his bed, noting that Ben was asleep once again.

Alex sat down on his bed and checked his watch. It read 0549.

K-Unit better wake up soon or they would miss breakfast. Alex waited a few minutes before realising that nobody was going to wake up by themselves.

He was about to wake up Ben when Snake walked in the door, purposely slamming it behind him.

Ben jumped out of bed for the second time that morning. He shot an annoyed look at Sanke.

Snake held up his hands. "I'm doing you a favour," he said. "Look at the time."

Ben glanced half heartedly at the clock, then he read it properly and was suddenly very wide awake.

Alex watched in amusement as Ben's face changed from sleepiness to surprise to horror as he realised he might miss breakfast. Snake went to wake up the other members.

Literally 3 minutes later, K-Unit with the two additions walked over to the mess hall for breakfast. Eagle looked as if he was still asleep and had to be prodded into motion several times by Snake.

K-Unit got their food along with Ben and then sat down at their table.

Alex was left waiting at the counter while the cook went to get more mush, him having given Leopard the last serving.

Soon the cook returned and dolloped some mush onto Alex's plate. Joy.

Most of the other Units had arrived before K-Unit and it was very busy, almost every chair was filled. Unthinkingly, Alex started to make his way towards K-Unit's table, forgetting to head towards the door . He was almost there when the same soldier stepped in front of him.

"Listen, kid. When are you going to learn? When I say something I mean it. Don't. Eat. With. Us. In. Here. Again."

Alex's temper strained against him but he managed to get it under control. He opened his mouth to tell him he was leaving, just as Ben looked up to see what had made the noise level in the mess hall go down a notch.

Ben couldn't hold it in any longer. He shoved his chair back from the table forcefully, creating a loud screeching noise. Almost every head swivelled his direction. He stood up and walked towards where Alex and Marmot stood, pairs of eyes following his progress the whole way.

Alex was quite annoyed, and yet relieved to see Ben heading his way. Truth to be told, he was just tired, plain tired with the whole situation.

The whole mess hall was silent now. The solders were watching the confrontation as if it was the most exciting thing they'd seen all week, actually it probably was.

Ben stopped his advance a few feet from Marmot.

"Why can't Cub sit with us?" asked Ben, his voice coloured with anger despite its low volume.

Marmot looked taken aback, but then gathered his confidence and replied, "Because he's a kid who hasn't done anything worth merit."

Ben took deep calming breaths and tried counting to ten in German many times.

Alex watched Ben in worry. If Ben lost his temper, he might accidently spill his secrets.

"Ben," he said warningly. SAS heads turned towards him. "Don't," he said, making eye contact with Ben.

"Why?" asked Ben, "Why not?"

Alex was at a loss for what to say so he remained silent.

Marmot smelled a victory and couldn't resist smirking. "It's because he hasn't done anything. What did I tell you? He's worthless!"

Ben snapped.

"This kid!" he half screamed at Marmot, jabbing a finger in Alex's direction. "This kid, has suffered greatly for his country and you dare to mock him? He could kill you if he wanted to! Right now, he could kill you. You should be grateful to him for saving your worthless hide. He's been on missions---missions I wouldn't have wanted to go on. He's been into sp-"

"Enough!" shouted Alex, the soldiers started and looked at him.

"Ben," he continued at a lower volume, maintaining eye contact with Ben the whole while. "That's enough."

"Alex," said Ben, so enraged that he didn't realise that he'd used Alex's real name in front of the soldiers. "Why? Do you like to be treated like dirt?"

Alex found himself at a loss for words once again, then recovered himself. "No," he said quietly, "But if they think I don't deserve their respect, then let them."

Alex sent him a meaningful look. Ben was too far gone to notice it.

"But after all you've been through-"

Alex cut Ben off again. "Ben! Don't. Please, for me."

Ben took a deep breath. Last night, on the way back, Alex had told him about the Ark Angel mission, with great persuasion on Ben's part and great reluctance on Alex's. Alex thought he'd better go easy on him and hadn't gone into the gruesome details.

Ben took another deep breath. "Fine," he said shortly. "But Cub is allowed to sit with us, you hear me?"

Marmot nodded. He had been stunned at the tirade that Fox had delivered and even more shocked when the kid had cut Fox off and hadn't denied any of it. And had Fox been going to say 'space' before the kid cut him off?

It was madness, absolute madness.

Shaking his head, Marmot walked over to his own Unit and sat down. Slowly conversations picked up where they had left off and the noise level reached its usual high.

Ben was still standing there, glaring at Marmot's back. Alex noticed and decided to intervene.

"Ben," he said, softly to attract said person's attention. "Thanks for sticking up for me, you didn't have to you know."

Ben's face relaxed into a smile. "Just looking out for you, Alex. Heck, sometimes I reckon I'm the only one."

Alex grinned wryly. "You wouldn't be too wrong there either, but please, Ben, don't tell anyone about me. The last time I did, well, it didn't end well."

Alex looked away from Ben, remembering Sabina's face when he had told her about what he was, about what he'd done.

No, he was going to make sure that never happened again.

Alex swung his gaze back to Ben.

Ben's eyes searched his face for a moment, then he nodded for some reason and said, "You gonna come eat something?"

Alex looked at his mush, remembered Sabina's disbelieving face and felt his gut churn.

"No," said Alex, a bit hoarse. "No, I'm not too hungry right now."

Ben shrugged and said, "Fine, but make sure you get something in you at some point, ok?"

Alex simply smiled weakly and walked out of the mess hall, dumping the contents of his plate in the bin and placing his tray in the dirty dishes pile on his way.

Once he was outside, Alex felt his heart rate go down. That was way too close. He'd better not tell Ben anything more about himself. Knowing his temper, anything could come out at any second.

Alex walked down to the lake. Funny he had never been the sentimental type, but he seemed to be spending more and more time by the shore thinking and remembering.

Alex sat down on the side, took off his boots and socks, then rolled up his trousers to his knees and lowered his legs into the water.

It was freezing, but calming somehow at the same time. Alex tipped his head back and closed his eyes, and remembered everything about his fourth mission and about Sabina's involvement in it.

He remembered his terror when Cray threatened to cut off her fingers; no he would never again put anyone through that.

With that thought, Alex pulled his legs up out of the water and stuffed his feet back into his socks and jammed his boots on over them.

Fully dressed, Alex decided to get kitted up early and started his trek back to the barrack.

**Back with K-Unit**

Snake eyed Ben warily as he sat back down at the table. "Care to explain what happened there?"

Leopard sighed, "I think that's fairly obvious, Snake." All of K-Unit and Ben's heads swivelled to focus on him. "Well, Ben evidently lost control and yelled at poor Marmot who looked like he was about to piss himself afterwards."

Eagle snorted in laughter. "Good explanation there, Leopard."

Sanke rolled his eyes at their antics. "No, I mean you were about to say something else, but Cub stopped you. Did he tell you about himself?"

Ben shifted uncomfortably under their eyes. "Well, yes-kinda. But," he said, seeing the questions on their faces, "I don't want to betray his trust in me and I probably don't know the answers to the questions you have."

Eagle groaned. "Aww!"

Wolf had a thoughtful look on his face. "Why did you explode though, Ben? I mean, it wasn't killing him to eat outside was it?"

Ben bristled. "Alex has been treated like dirt by plenty of people, I guess I just snapped when Alex really does deserve---" Ben cut himself off abruptly. "What I meant was that Alex hasn't had an easy life as far as I can see so far, from what I sasw when I worked with him and from what he's told. Which, come to think of it, actually isn't that much."

The rest of their hurried breakfast was spent in silence.

**********************************************************************************************************************************************

At 5am, inside a different Scorpia safe house just outside the border of Wales

"Initiate recovery of Rider. Ensure you bring as many from the base as possible. If you manage to imprison the entire camp you will be rewarded greatly. You are expected back here at 1pm maximum before your contract is terminated. And if you don't have the hostages, then don't bother coming back at all. They are waiting for you in the boarding section. Dismissed."

Not a sound was heard as 260 assassins exited the lecture theatre.

Lieutenant Assassin Jason Bruce sat back in his chair behind the podium and wearily rubbed his forehead. This business with the Rider kid was very tiring.

He turned back to the radar. They had been wise to be cautious. Luckily, the tracking device implanted in Simons, or Daniels, it was apparently, was working.

The scouts they had sent to find his exact location had reported seeing a blond haired boy that fit the physical description of one Alex Rider. It was pure luck on their half, and pure stupidity on MI6's half.

Nothing would go wrong. Scorpia had called in favours from the Mafia, the Italian Mob, the Chinese Triads and had hired the best assassins available, along with their own. All had been thoroughly briefed on their positions, on the layout of the camp and what each and every one of them was supposed to do.

Now they could take out two MI6 operatives in one blow, two very important MI6 operatives.

It was a pity that he wasn't allowed to shoot them on sight, but Mr Kroll had ordered that their deaths were to be drawn out for as long as possible.

What a pity.

* * *

**Brecon Beacons, Collection Zone for Parachuting**

Alex was waiting alongside K-Unit and Ben for the helicopter they were supposed to be taking to arrive.

He had arrived back at the barrack to find the other men inside; evidently he had spent more time at the lake than he had thought.

All six of them had kitted up in silence, a little hurriedly as they were running a little behind schedule.

All their rushing had been for nothing though as the chopper was late.

Alex stood a bit off to the side as they waited at the side of the landing pad.

K-Unit had been behaving strangely around him ever since last night and the scene in the mess hall had served to magnify it.

Eagle was currently full out staring at Alex, wondering at how little they actually knew Cub. Snake was keeping an eye on Eagle, trying to ensure that he didn't ask Cub any awkward questions and trying to seem unconcerned at the same time. It wasn't working.

Wolf, on the other hand seemed to be trying to peel away Alex's skin to find out just who or what he was, with his eyes, that is. He had a thoughtful look on his face. To Alex it was a very scary thing. He hadn't been aware that Wolf actually had a working brain. He'd thought he was the brawn of the group; evidently he was wrong though.

Ben seemed totally and blissfully oblivious to the tension in the air and stood there in silence, looking very relaxed. Alex thought that Ben was A) tired out form his tirade earlier or B) a very good actor. There was just no way a spy could be that oblivious.

The chopper arrived in a whirl of air and a sound of helicopter blades slicing the air.

Usually K-Unit did this exercise with F-Unit, but they had been posted over in Iraq and so K-Unit did it alone with Ben and Alex.

It touched down gently on the ground floor and the side door was flung open.

The man that emerged was of a medium height and build, with caramel brown eyes and dark brown hair in a crew cut.

"Get in," he roared over the noise as K-Unit walked/jogged over to the helicopter.

They climbed onboard with not too much difficulty.

Once they were all seated and buckled in with the doors firmly shut the man who had yelled at them gave the pilot a thumbs up, and they were away.

Alex, who had managed to get a window seat, watched as the man shrank to a dot and then disappeared altogether as the helicopter gathered speed and flew towards the drop zone.

Alex closed his eyes and leant his head against the cool glass. They were going to a different drop zone than the last time he'd been here. This one was a good hour and a half away.

Alex found himself starting to doze off. He fought it at first but gave in to the darkness eventually, being too tired to resist anymore.

Ben almost smiled in satisfaction as he saw Alex catching a few more minutes sleep. The boy needed to get more sleep and more food in him to be healthy.

Eagle, who was sitting on the other side of Ben, looked at Alex then stage whispered. "Aww, look. Little Cub is taking a nap."

Leopard stirred in indignation. Not even soldiers were allowed to fall asleep on duty, but he didn't want to be on the receiving end of one of Ben's tirades, especially seeing as he was already in a bad mood today; so he, very wisely, kept his mouth shut.

Wolf merely grunted. He too was against Cub falling asleep but was also a bit curious to see how Cub would react when he woke up.

Roughly an hour later, Cub woke with a start. Wolf quickly turned his attention to him. Cub's breathing was uneven and came in quick short pants. There was fear in his eyes and his hands trembled ever so slightly.

Alex nearly cried in relief as he woke up. His breathing was hurried and hitched and he could feel the remnant of fear making his hands tremble slightly.

He had been lucky, he supposed that he hadn't screamed his lungs out in front of K-Unit. It had been bad enough that Ben had seen him like that, the last thing he needed was Eagle or Snake pestering him about his dreams, or nightmares.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, sleeping beauty," said Eagle energetically.

Alex groaned and opened his eyes to see Eagle's face in his personal space.

"Eagle, what do you want?" he moaned. Eagle was just far too energetic for his liking, although he preferred this side of Eagle to the one he had seen during his previous stay here.

Eagle pouted. "What? Is the reward of waking up to my face not enough for you?"

Alex just sighed and retorted with, "I would hardly consider waking up to your face a privilege, more like a twisted form of torture."

As Eagle struggled to figure out Alex's answer, Alex asked, "Are we there yet?"

Ben muffled a smile and answered Alex's question.

"Almost, we still have about half an hour to go and then we jump."

The next half hour was spent with Eagle, Snake and Leopard playing cards and accusing each other of cheating.

How they had managed to get the cards on board, Alex wasn't sure, but maybe they were allowed to bring things along to keep themselves entertained; after all, the drop zone was much further away than the last had been.

It was a welcome sight to Alex to see that Leopard was human to some degree. Wolf and Ben were discussing military tactics and how to apply them to different situations.

Alex sat there, slightly amused by the happenings.

He rode out the rest of the journey in silence and before long they were approaching the drop zone.

The co-pilot, the one who had yelled at them to hurry up earlier, climbed into the back and said, "You all know what to do?" Six nods answered the affirmative. "Good! This is a standard procedure; you jump and then make your way back to Beacons. Got it?"

Again, six nods. "Good luck!" the co-pilot said and then returned to the front of the helicopter.

Alex automatically checked his gear and straps. Everything seemed to be in it's correct place and nothing seemed broken. Alex glanced up to see Snake and Eagle getting up and walking, if a little unsteadily, to the door.

Since most planes were busy in Iraq, the SAS were having to train with helicopters, although, in order to create the impression that it was a plane, it kept flying straight instead of hovering.

The co-pilot gave Snake and Eagle the thumbs up and they jumped. Next was Ben and Leopard. They stood framed in the doorway for a moment, and the next, they were gone.

That left Alex with Wolf. Just his luck.

Alex inched his way over to the door and saw that Wolf was doing the same with no apparent fear. Abstractly, Alex wondered what had happened to Wolf to make him conquer his fear. Being kicked out of a plane once couldn't have cured him.

Alex gave his gear a last minute quick once over and caught the co-pilot's signal in the corner of his eye. He took a deep breath and jumped, Wolf hot on his heels.

It was total bliss, freedom. Alex felt weightless, as light as air. The last two times he'd jumped, he'd been too hyped up on adrenalin to truly appreciate the downward descent. It made Alex fell very peaceful, apart from the fact that Wolf was parachuting not 5 feet from him.

Alex judged the distance and pulled hard on his cord. He felt the yank as his parachute caught the wind and suppressed a wince and a hiss of pain as the harness tightened against the bullet wound.

He landed and ran several metres before stopping completely.

Alex wrenched off his harness. It was then that he felt it.

It was quiet in the sparsely wooded area, far too quiet. Alex's sixth sense was telling him that something wan't right, and that danger was imminent.

"Cub?" he heard.

In his mind, Alex ran through a list of curses in multiple languages. Now the people, or whatever was waiting here knew that there was two of them.

Although, if they had seen them jump, they would already know that.

"Here," called Alex, wanting to see if he could tempt the person or whatever into the open.

There was the sound of braken being crunched underfoot as Wolf made his way towards him. No person showed, except Wolf that is.

_Crap_, thought Alex. _Well done, genius._

"What took you so---"

Alex held up a hand and cocked his head to the side, listening intently. Wolf was more than slightly confused by this point.

First he had landed in the middle of mowhere, with his jump partner missing and then when he finally found Alex, the kid dares to silence him and completely ignores him!

"Just you listen---" started Wolf in a loud voice and was cut off by Alex who hissed, "Shut up, you moron!" at him.

Wolf blinked in surprise. That was a first. Nobody had ever dared to call him a moron. He had to admire the kid's guts for standing up to him, but couldn't let him damage his reputation. If word of this got out…

Wolf started again, at the same volume, "Listen up, Cub. You may think you're so great because you've been on a couple of missions, alright I'll give you credit for the Point Blanc one, but that's it! Soldiers in a Unit need to work co-operatively in order to survive. I'm sure that even you---"

Alex rounded on him viciously. "I'm trying to save your hide at the moment, so just-"

Alex suddenly threw himself to the ground. A bullet embedded itself not two centimetres away from his face, more following.

* * *

**A/N: I have updated! *sees shocked expressions* What? I said I was gonna update---eventually---and I have. Go me! **

**Did I mention how much I LOVE summer---no school, computer, chocolate, no school, erm…ok I'll think of other stuff that's good about summer later. On an even brighter note---EXAMS ARE OVER!!!! Which means I'll be updating more regularly, actually I'm already half way through Chapter 11 right now, but I think I'm going to change most of that so it could take some time, but not as long as this has taken. **

**Thanks to all those faithful reviewers to give me a kick up the arse when I need it and continue to give helpful advice and opinions---all you guys rock!**

**A big shout out to anyone who put this on their fave stories or alert lists---thank you guys so much!**

**Ok, I wasn't too satisfied with this chapter, but my betas assured me it was bearable enough to let people read so I posted it anyway. Please tell me what you think of it.**

**Oh and one last thing, I'm considering getting rid of Jack---yea or nay? Please tell me what you would think of that, and I'm also considering putting Yassen in it---please R+R.**

**Wild Child x**


	11. Capture!

A/N: Thanks to all those wonderful people who reviewed the last chapter and who have kept me going---literally, I live for reviews (and chocolate, but whatever…). And here, dear followers, is the promised chapter! My apologies on the length of the delay, I was much needed at home (kept very busy) plus I have needed to do a ton of research…I never said it was for this fic, though, did I? Still, I hope you enjoy it. Please review and tell me your views on it. And now, proceed! A very, very big thank you to Marie Elaine Cullen whose fics are amazing and very good reading! Thank you so so so much for kicking my butt and making me write more (stuff research!)

**Chapter 11**

**Captured!**

Not for the first time, Alex thanked his extra senses and scrambled to his feet, trying to see where the threat was.

As he finally stood upright, the firing ceased. Wolf slowly got up from his prostrated position on the ground.

"What the hell just happened?" he asked quietly.

"This is just a lucky guess," said Alex, seriously, "but I think we might have been shot at."

Wolf opened his mouth to say something, but was cut short by the figures emerging from the forest.

They seemed to appear from thin air, or detach themselves from trees, as if they had been one with the tree. Every person there dressed in camouflage and carried a gun.

Before Alex had blinked, they had surrounded him and Wolf. Alex surveyed the situation from a remote place, almost as if he was an observer on the outside rather than part of the whole picture.

Admittedly, it did not look good. At all.

Wolf had no idea what exactly he was up against, and he doubted that either of them would be able to take out this number of men, separately or together.

"Who sent you here?" said Alex calmly, knowing he most likely wouldn't get an answer out of the various men, but trying anyway.

It came as no surprise then, that none of them replied to his question.

Instead, one of the men stepped forward with a raised fist, another soldier - assassin – taking his place almost immediately, filling in the gap so that there were no escape routes.

Said man was of small stature; his hair was a dark brown, bordering on black. He possessed a crooked nose that had obviously been broken and reset many times.

As soon as Alex saw the raised fist, he dropped into a defensive Karate stance, purely on instinct.

Said person had no idea how well Wolf was taking in the whole situation, but he supposed not very well. Wolf didn't care much for surprises – one of the few things he'd learned during his first jaunt to Brecon Beacons.

Alex subtly shifted his weight to his back foot as the man came closer, prepared to lash out with a roundhouse kick to the stomach.

Suddenly, he felt an unexpected pain sprout in his lower left leg.

Alex cursed himself for his own inattention. While the man had been coming closer, Alex had been concentrating so hard on reading his actions that he'd almost forgotten the other men until now.

Moving slowly, so as not to jar his leg too much, Alex put his hand to it – and knew immediately why none of the men were moving in on him or Wolf.

He only confirmed his suspicions when he glanced down at it, taking in the feathered end of the tranquilliser dart that protruded from the back of his calf.

Alex started to feel drowsy; they must have out a large dosage in for it to take effect so quickly.

But said teenager would not go without a fight.

Alex struggled with his eyelids, willing them open in defiance.

Beside him, he saw Wolf crumpled on the ground, obviously out cold.

The man that had served as a decoy earlier was standing over him.

Alex heard someone murmur something that didn't quite reach his ears. The decoy man's response was perfectly clear though, his fist was raised again.

"He's taking too long."

Alex barely had time to note a subtle hint of a Russian accent in the man's voice before the fist came down and everything dissolved into a swirling black nothingness.

* * *

Alex began to ache. He wasn't sure when it started, all he knew was that it was everything.

The ache strengthened at the back of his skull, throbbing like there was no tomorrow.

A very real possibility, come to think of it.

Alex heard himself groan, a noise that roughed against his throat; leading him back to the land of the living.

In a futile effort to dispel the ache, Alex slowly shook his head from side to side. Although the pointless exercise didn't do much towards making the ache go away, it did help him focus a bit better on his current situation.

Alex listened for anything useful, but all he heard was boots marching on the floor, heavy breathing and muffled cursing.

Alex opened his eyes…and immediately shut them against the bright light.

Slowly, he opened them again, squinting against the light, which Alex soon determined to be electrical lights hanging from the ceiling. Moving electrical lights.

That was a little unusual, Alex thought fuzzily.

It was at that moment that said person fully regained consciousness, and became aware of the fact that he was being dragged, on his back, along what looked like a corridor by his wrists. Or rather, the handcuffs around his wrists.

Wincing at the newly recognised burning ache in his shoulders, Alex tried to look around him to see if there was any distinguishing marks on the walls or ground, or anything that might give away where he was.

Unfortunately, the only things in sight were two white walls, concrete floor and a white ceiling from which hung the electrical lights. In other words, he was being dragged down a white corridor.

Not that he'd actually expected to find anything useful, really.

Slowly, the lights slowed down until they stopped moving altogether. Alex also felt the ache in his shoulders and wrists alike beginning to fade, something he was glad of, even though his gut feeling told him that this wasn't good.

A couple of minutes later, said person's wrists were dropped on the ground and a face appeared above Alex's.

"Hey!" said the face, which Alex now determined to belong to one of his dragger-alongers. "He's awake!"

"He can't be!" called an answering voice coloured with disbelief. "It was guaranteed not to wear off for another 15 minutes."

"I'm telling you, somehow this kid is awake and he's staring at me like he knows what's going on," said Face, as Alex decided to call him, despite the fact that he was wearing a balaclava that didn't show his face.

"Knock him out again," called his partner, Disbelief.

Face stared at Alex and Alex stared back, giving him one for one. Suddenly Disbelief's footsteps were heard as he walked up behind Alex.

Mentally sighing, Alex deduced that Disbelief wasn't the best at stealth exercises.

Two seconds later, as Disbelief's fist crashed into Alex's cranium, said person deduced that he had found Disbelief's strength---knocking people out.

And with that cheerful thought, Alex sped down a black tunnel until it swallowed up all the light. **(1)**

* * *

**K-Unit And Various Other SAS Units, Including Sergeant, In A Different Cell, In A Different Part Of The Same Building As Alex, On The Border Of Wales And England**

"Why?" the man slammed his fists into the metal bars of the cell for what seemed the hundredth time. "Why?" he reiterated.

"Calm down, Wolf. Shouting and hammering on the bars isn't going to help," said Snake from his position on the floor.

"I dunno," said Leopard thoughtfully. "Wolf looks like he's having fun. Maybe we should all try that?"

Which earned him a death glare and a low growl from a certain team-mate that looked scarily like his namesake at the time being.

Ben rolled his eyes. "Wolf, stop making so much noise, Leopard stop egging Wolf on and Eagle! _Please_ stop pacing---it's driving me insane. Much better!"

Eagle, serious for once, did as Ben asked and sat down with an audible thump.

"Sorry, but this sucks! We're locked up in a cell; currently we have no way to tell where we are, how far away we are from civilisation, how to escape and we have absolutely where Cub is!"

And with that speech, Eagle slumped against the wall, his brow furrowed.

Ben knew that he shouldn't say what he was about to, that he needed security clearance to tell them what he was about to, but he didn't care. They were locked up and had no idea if they were even about to survive the next 24 hours. Ben figured that this was an exceptional circumstance.

"I'm sure Alex is fine, wherever he is," Ben said softly from his cross-legged seat on the ground.

He immediately had the attention of all his teammates.

"Now is not the time to tell us that you're a physic, Fox," said Snake, who was very concerned for said teenager.

Sighing, Ben explained. "Alex would probably kill me if he knew that I was telling you this, after all I'm not supposed to, but since you seem to need reassurance that he will be fine, I'll tell you.

"The first time I saw him in Australia, I couldn't believe my eyes. He looked so different from the boy we had seen here."

Ben's eyes took on a far away look as he reminisced. "Anyway, I saw him once more, from afar. After that, the next time I saw him was at a Thai kick-boxing match to the death. And he was doing fine, he was holding his own against a giant of man; in fact, he beat him. Actually, it was only after that that he needed my help. So you see," Ben said, bringing his attention back to K-Unit, "Alex will be fine."

"Yeah," said Snake, a little impressed. "But in case you hadn't noticed we're in a slightly different situation here."

"Fine then," Ben said, annoyed that his friends didn't trust him enough to take him at his word. "Don't believe me. But I know that Alex is fine."

* * *

**The Safe House on the Border of Scotland and England, in an Office**

"We have just received a fax, sir. They have successfully captured Alex Rider, sir," said a middle-aged man.

Levi Kroll spun his chair around. "Excellent. Send my highest regards and inform them that I shall be there to interrogate the boy presently."

The middle aged man bowed and walked towards the exit.

"Oh, and Adam? Prepare a moving cell for the young lady. She'll be going with us."

* * *

**In a cell, at the opposite end of the Safe House where the SAS men and Alex are currently being held hostage**

When Alex woke from his second fist assisted trip to unconsciousness, he was by himself; inside a nice little concrete cell.

And he meant little.

It measured six of Alex's feet by eight. Alex was sure of these measurements, as he'd spent the last 5 minutes and 26 seconds pacing the room. He'd been counting on both halves.

The first thing Alex had done, after waking up, was to sit up---or attempt to, at any rate.

The bright stars that flashed in front of his vision like hundreds of lightbulbs blowing out all at once, made it rather hard to think, and see, straight.

Groaning slightly, Alex managed to sit up and the progress to getting on his feet, with the assistance of the wall.

After examining the cell, including the door, Alex deemed escape not likely. All four walls and the floor were made of solid concrete; there wasn't even the tiniest crack in the wall. The door, on the other hand, seemed to be as wide as an elephant and made of titanium, from what Alex could tell, with various locks and tricky mechanisms located on the other side of the door. The only way he was going to get out of here without the Scorpia men, or hired by Scorpia men taking him, was if he knew how to apparate.

Unfortunately, this skill eluded Alex, and so he remained locked up in his comfy little chamber.

Sighing, Alex leaned his back against the wall, tipped his head back and slid to the floor.

He was much stronger now, even the 5 and a half minutes of movement helped ease his aching muscles, making them stronger, more obedient to Alex's will and less likely to fall out from underneath him.

Alex sat on the ground and tried to figure out the whole situation.

It was obviously Scorpia, and evidently they wanted something from him, or the SAS, seeing Wolf was captured also, or at least Alex thought so.

Wolf…Alex wondered if he was okay, or even still alive. Scorpia weren't exactly renowned for keeping SAS collectibles and useless items. Either or.

And speaking of Wolf, I wonder where the rest of K-Unit is? Alex thought. I hope they managed to get away. Who am I kidding? This is Scorpia! They are perfectionists; they know every single detail. Well, considering, almost every detail.

Alex brought his legs up to his chest and wound his arms around them, binding them to his torso.

Sighing, Alex rested his head on his knees, face towards the door and waited for whatever, or whoever to come for him.

* * *

**(1) This happened to me once when I nearly fainted after breaking three bones in my foot. The edges of my vision went black and I swear it looked like a really long black corridor with a really bright spot of light in the middle. It was at this point that my Mum threw a cup of water over my head and everything came back to its normal colour.**

**Ok, me again. I very, very sincerely regret to inform you that updates will be few and far between for the rest of the seen future. I haven't updated in a while and I know that I said that I was going to be updating more regularly, but that was before my Mum decided to haul us of on a tri to America (Not that I'm complaining---you have very nice weather and good food and almost everything else that rainy Britain doesn't.) Which, I'll admit, I was happy to go on. **

**Until I realised that my only Internet access was one hour a day, usually about three times a week max. You can imagine the depth of my pleasure about that factor. Almost as big as my brain (for those of you unaware of the current state my brain is in let me assure you that a pea looks ginormous.) Anyhow, I have major writer's block on this, actually it was going to be longer, but I had quite a bit of research to do for the rest of it so I decide to screw that and post this! **

**Thanks for reading, let me know your opinion on this atrocity and review please,**

**Raksha Child x**


	12. The Irish Way, Or Not?

**A/N: I do not own Alex Rider or any related characters. FANfiction people, FAN.**

**Chapter 12**

* * *

They sent 12 of them. 12 trained, dangerous assassins to come and collect him.

Alex nearly snorted in amusement as he turned the corner, flanked by said assassins every step of the way. He might have been good, but no one would be, _could be_, stupid enough to take on an enemy who was on their own ground and therefore knew the layout better, whose numbers weren't determined, whose goal was still not discovered and the way out was clearly not going to have big sign over it reading, 'All Teenage Spies Attempting to Escape, Go This Way!'

Any good spy would know this in an instant and would attempt to pry information from his situation before leaving.

Alex was jerked from his thoughts as a gun prodded the centre of his back. A very highly advance, technology wise, stun gun that held, oh I don't know, around 4000 volts, maybe?

Alex stiffened and took note of his surroundings, mentally scolding himself for not paying attention. They were finally at a stop. Said teen spy wondered at the size of the facility where he was being kept, it felt like he had been walking for hours. It was also a possibility that they'd taken him 'the Irish way,' as Jack used to joke, after a day trip they'd taken to said island.

In other words, you have a starting point, A, and a finishing point, B. The American way, or so professed Jack, was to make a beeline from A to B; the Irish way, however, proclaimed said redhead, after two whole hours of the twisting the map every which way to try and get to their destination, was to go any direction BUT straight.

Smiling faintly at the memory, Alex's thoughts drifted to the present and he frowned, the smile slipping off his face. Where was Jack in all of this? Wherever she was, he hoped she was safe, well and alive. He didn't know what he'd do if Jack died, it wasn't even worth contemplating.

Alex's mind was once more yanked back to the current situation, but this time wit the sound of a bolt being drawn back.

His attention immediately zoomed in on the metal door ahead of his escort. The two men at the front of said escort were obviously opening it.

With a clunk and a slight squeak that betrayed the miniscule amounts of rust that clung to it, the door swung open.

Alex's ears were at once assaulted with noise, as sounds of all sorts bled from the room into his ears.

Bloody hell! Had Scorpia managed to capture the entire SAS camp or something?

Having stepped through the doorway, still shadowed Alex found that that was indeed the case.

The room was spacious to say the least, huge enough to house 2 elephants plus more comfortably. Its walls were a muddy brown, and Alex somehow knew in his gut that it was a natural effect rather than painted on.

Lining the four walls were cells upon cells, made up entirely of metal bars. In the centre of the room was an empty cage and Alex felt, wit the same certainty from earlier that it was his.

The noise level in the room got progressively quieter until it was silent; all the men in the cells were staring at Alex, 4 in each, except for two cells. One had five familiar faces pressed against the bars and one appeared empty, but upon closer examination he could make out a shadowy outline at the back of the cell. Obviously the person didn't want to be seen.

Alex was prodded into movement by the same man with the gun again and began to walk down the centre of the room towards aforementioned cell.

Alex kept his eyes forward and his head up as he walked towards his…living area.

One of the me men front unlocked the door to his cage and said teen was unceremoniously shoved into the cell, stumbling as he attempted to regain his balance.

The door to his cage clanged shut with startling clarity, and Alex felt then what every wild animal caged feels; the need to escape.

The 12 men retreated to the doorway after locking his cell, then through said door it, bolting it securely after them.

As soon as that happened, Eagle shouted, "Cub!"

Alex sighed and leant against the nearest wall, fingers automatically going to rub his temples, trying to sooth away the ache he had acquired there.

Unfortunately, Eagle's repetitive calling of his codename wasn't helping. Alex grit his teeth, his patience waning as his fingers clutched his head in vain.

Eventually, his stick thin patience snapped.

"Goddammit, Eagle! Shut the bloody hell up already!" Alex snarled, eyes flying open to observe Eagle's reaction.

Said man looked very taken aback, then remorseful. "Sorry Cub," he said.

"Don't' call me that," he snapped irritably, suddenly very aware that everyone in the room's attention was focused on them.

"It's not my name and I'm tired of playing soldier."

Wolf looked very indignant at that last statement of his, he observed, as did most of the other soldiers.

"Alex…," Ben called softly.

"Hmm?" Alex replied in a noncommittal voice, now tapping his fingers against the bars of his cell. It could be one of two, titanium or steel.

"Are you alright?"

Alex swung his head back to Ben, torn between confusion and hysterical amusement. He'd told Ben about the Ark Angel incident, and this was obviously didn't qualify anywhere near that level of stressful situation, and yet Ben was asking him if he was okay?

The soldiers in the room were becoming intensely confused by the teenager standing in front of them. He couldn't be more than sixteen, yet he seemed perfectly at home with 12 assassins surrounding him and completely at ease with the current situation. And yet, he became amused at simple questions such as, are you okay? Something wasn't right here.

Wolf, although he would never admit to it, was severely impressed, as was Leopard by Cub's handling of the situation. Snakes, who was in full medic mode was anxiously waiting his turn to quiz the 5th member of their team. Eagle was in awe. When he'd been Alex's age, which was what? 16, 17? He'd been messing around with his mates and worrying about homework and GCSE's, not whether he would live tomorrow. This teen was something else entirely.

"Funny question that," said Alex, still tapping the bars of his cell. "Suppose I'm okay, yeah. But then, I suppose I'm not okay at the same time."

Alex paced to one end of his cell, feeling dozens of pairs of eyes on him. Suddenly, he whirled and slammed his foot into the bars, listening to its reverberations wit satisfaction.

Just as he'd thought, it was titanium.

Exhaustion catching up on him from his long day and mind in overdrive, Alex slumped against the wall of his container and slid down it to the floor.

The soldiers, bored now that Alex's shouting match was over had gone back to plotting an escape plan, none too subtlety either, but if it was what kept them amused, hey, Alex wasn't going to argue.

Said spy exhaled his breath in one loud puff, tilting his head against the bars, closing his eyes ad he did so.

Suddenly, he became aware of footsteps. Very slow, distinctive ones, as if the bearer wasn't used to walking loudly, or even noticeably at all.

Quickly, he snapped his eyes open, looking for any possible threat. Very few people he had met could walk that way, and that meant…

Alex's eyes travelled up the worn black boots the man wore. Up past the khaki uniform and scar that ran across his throat. Ruler straight. There was only one man he knew that had ever had a scar like that.

His eyes kept on moving up the man's face to stare into two chips of blue ice that served as eyes.

"You!"

* * *

A/N: Okay people. Tell me what you think! *runs from mob of screaming, angry people* Ooooookay…on second thoughts, just read and review please. *whimpers* So, after my…lovely…holiday in America, I return and guess what? It's almost September! I know, I was shocked too! And then I ran around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to find school supplies and then school actually started.

Let me ask you something…is it legal to give schoolchildren in Britain 7 homeworks a night? Because, seriously, that what I'm getting. So stress is a VERY prominent character in my life at the moment, so don't expect any miracle updates for sometime.

Also, I won't be putting in as much detail from K-Unit's take on certain scenes, mostly it'll just be Alex and Yassen, although K-Unit will feature massively, don't worry too much.

If you have read all of this, thank you very much, I would sincerely appreciate it if you would review.

Before I forget! Okay, big thank you goes, as always to my wonderful reviewers and alert-er people.


	13. The Road to Enlightment is Confusing

**A/N: **_**I do not own Alex Rider or any related characters.**_

**Chapter 13**

**The Road to Enlightenment Is Often Confusing**

* * *

The man showed no emotion, although his eyes held a hint of amusement, as he replied, "Me."

"But you're dead!"

Yassen's eyes locked with Alex's, and he returned, in a voice coloured with the faintest tint of humour to match the amusement in his eyes, "Evidently not. I am standing here before you, am I not?"

"But…! You…! I watched you die!" exclaimed Alex, still in shock; composure deserting him as he struggled for words.

He had watched the man die, had even felt a smidgen of respect for him, knowing that the man had tried to help him in his last minutes in the only way that he thought he could, only to find him alive and kicking.

Had it all been a trick? Had Scorpia told Yassen to tell Alex about them before he died? To torture him? To make him look like a fool? Had they known he was a spy all along?

The soldiers, K-Unit in particular, were very interested in the happenings before them. They were also eager to find out how Alex knew Yassen Gregorovich, and was still living.

"What's going on?" asked Eagle quietly, in a serious voice for once.

Wolf shushed him, impatient to discover more about the mystery that was their fifth member.

"I did die, at least in a sense, Alex," the assassin said. "You know what happened on the plane-" here his eyes flickered ever so slightly to the men in the cages currently hanging onto every word he and Alex exchanged.

Alex, following his line of sight, nodded to show he understood.

"-well, I was rendered unconscious, as were you. They," he stressed the word, "took me to a holding cell somewhere where I was given medical care. That's what they told me, at least. I had been kept heavily sedated after being healed. I managed to escape and that was when-"he slightly hesitated again. "-when my…company…found me, and put me in here. When I awoke, I was in this cell and surrounded by these men."

Alex, who had remained impassive throughout the whole telling, save the nod he had given Yassen, now slowly stood. His hands automatically latched onto the bars of his cell in front of him; trying to keep him upright as Alex's preservation instincts warred with his exhaustion to keep in the land of the living.

Alex's brain currently resembled the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina – messed up and torn apart. Thoughts whirled around in Alex's head, making connections, using guesswork to see if his story would fit, and even if it did, there was still something he wanted to know.

"Why?" he hissed, in a low voice, causing the SAS soldiers to strain their ears to make out what he was saying. "Why?"

Alex knew that he appeared quite insane to the soldiers, with his severe mood changes and sentences that didn't make sense, but he wanted answers, the soldiers' exchanged looks were just an added bonus.

K-Unit, along with the other soldiers, was lost again. This child, this boy, either was A) an assassin in disguise, B) working as an inside agent for Scorpia, C) or belonged in a mad house. That or he was going through puberty at an alarming rate; with all the incredibly quick changes of tone and attitude they'd been seeing recently.

Yassen, knowing what he was referring to, replied softly. "I didn't know, Alex. I was trying to help you, I thought that Hunter would have wanted you to follow in his footsteps."

Alex's face twisted into an expression bordering between hilarity and hysteria. Ahh, the irony of it all!

Slowly, he nodded. "So you know then?"

Yassen nodded shortly as an answer.

Alex, eyes flicking to the SAS surrounding him, switched to Russian, something he'd been teaching himself out of respect for said assassin. He'd conveniently 'forgotten' to tell MI6 about that development, and it had 'slipped his mind' when typing his file; the same way it had when he was telling K-Unit about his language skills.

"Do you hate me?"

Yassen, his eyes having thawed slightly when Alex spoke to him in his native tongue, replied in the same language.

"No, Hunter was only doing his job. I have forgiven him for that."

"So, frienemies then?" asked Alex, holding out his hand.

Yassen took his hand and said, "Family."

Alex's grip on Yassen's hand tightened.

The man did feel like family, despite having tried to kill him various times, but then so had Alex. He was a link to his past, so why not include him in his future? Provided he had one, that is. No matter how much Alex denied it, said assassin had looked after him in a sense. He had made sure Alex was given a fighting chance in the bull ring instead of shooting him point blank, and he had helped Alex, then refused to kill said spy when they first met and again with Cray.

Could Alex forgive him for what he had done to his life? Thinking deeply on the matter, he decided that what was done, was done. It was in the past. He couldn't change it no matter how much he wished he could.

"Family," he reiterated.

Yassen, the famed assassin all over the world, the man with supposedly no emotion, smiled a small smile at him, it was more of a twitch of his lips – blink and you miss it - then released his hand.

The SAS were completely and utterly confused. One minute Alex was acting insane, and the next he was talking in a foreign language with Yassen Gregorovich himself and shaking hands. And the assassin had smiled. Just what had they missed out on?

Snake opened his mouth to ask a question, but was stopped when the door hastily banged open, the soldiers having not noticed the bolts being drawn due to the exchange between Alex and Yassen.

A man strode through said door with swift, fluid strides, as the room grew quiet. Everything about him oozed confidence. Two men hurried after him, clutching guns. They were tall in height and wore black army clothes, similar to what Alex was wearing, alongside the rest of the men in the room, save the colour.

Bodyguards, Alex assumed. Interesting, so this man was important.

The man proceeded until he reached Alex's cell. Slowly, he dragged his gaze over Alex, eyeing him like an animal on auction or a piece of meat to be bought.

Alex stared back silently in defiance.

"So this is the infamous Alex Rider," he said at last. "I expected more."

"They always say that," replied Alex in a politely disinterested voice, a sigh noticeable in his tone, as if the man was beneath his notice. Meanwhile taking note, in his mind that the man was of medium stature in height and weight, with a tanned complexion and probably of Arabian descent. He was wearing a black suit that looked very expensive, and was immaculately clean. His accent was hard to place, but if Alex were forced to guess, he'd say Italian.

Fox exhaled noisily. Now was not the time for Alex to have a teenager moment. The last thing he wanted was to see the boy dead.

Wolf was getting a little bit annoyed, and not to mention, much mire curious about Cub. Why was everything centred on Alex, or Cub, or whatever his name was? He's just a child anyway. A child in a man's world at the moment.

Wolf's thoughts were interrupted as the door banged open, again; having been closed while Alex and the man had their staring competition.

"Well, well, if it isn't Alex Rider, back from the dead…again," a different voice said, in a demeaning tone. Its source stood silhouetted against the doorway, backlit by the bright lights.

The man stepped forwards.

"Walker," growled Alex, hands fisting at his sides after letting go of the bars they had previously clutched. "I thought I recognised your voice."

"It's been so long, Alex. How many years now? Or months, sorry. Time flies when you're having fun. It seems just like yesterday that you were by my side, learning how to kill."

Alex bared his teeth in a feral smile. "Those were the good old days, weren't they? The days when Scorpia was an organisation to be feared, when you had all 9 board members…" he trailed off suggestively, the mocking undertone in his voice clear for all to hear.

Walker didn't rise to the bait though. "Yes, those were good days, but I find I enjoy the modern times just as much. After your death was announced, not once, but twice, certain people were promoted. I was one of the people. I am now a board member of Scorpia."

Walker looked at Alex in expectation, looking for some glimpse of fear, or shock on his face.

Alex stared at the man he had trained with in incredulity. That was it? His big villain speech was about him getting promoted? What a waste of his time and intelligence.

Shaking his head in disappointment, he turned away, muttering, "Scorpia must have been really desperate to promote such an idiot as yourself."

The next second there was a click that Alex's brain recognised as a gun being primed.

"I'm sorry, Alex Rider, would you care to repeat that?"

Alex slowly reversed his last action so that he was once again facing Walker, who was currently holding

"I said," Alex began calmly, "that Scorpia must have really been desperate to promote such an idiot as yourself."

Bang!

Walker lowered the gun, minus one bullet, smirking as Alex grappled with himself for a hold on his sanity – knowing that if he lost it now, more than just blood would pour from his body.

Shakily, Alex brought up a hand to hold his lower abdomen, the other reached out to latch, once again, onto one of the bars that caged him, helping him stay upright for the moment. Dark red blood spilled from the small hole near his hip where the bullet had buried itself, rapidly coating his hand that he held pressed against it.

"That should teach you some respect for Scorpia," sneered Walker.

"Well, well, Walker," rasped Alex, having won control of his body. "Still as bad of a shot as ever – you should really pay attention in Biology – the heart is situated in the chest, not the hip."

Walker snarled and raised the gun again, determined to make the Rider brat pay.

"Stop! Please, he's just a kid!" shouted a voice from Alex's left, a voice he recognised well.

Walker turned the gun on Snake and did something completely unexpected. He laughed.

Coming back to his senses, he asked, in a gloating tone, "Oh, I see. Is this how the rest of your missions work, Alex? Deceit?" this he directed at aforementioned spy.

Said spy's lip curled, not liking the direction the conversation was going.

"Only some, Walker, only some. And only the pathetic are fooled."

Walker, however, wasn't paying any attention to the rest of Alex's answer having gotten the answer he wanted in the first half.

"Do you really think that he's just a kid?" Walker sneered, a mocking tone in his voice.

Not waiting for an answer, he continued. "Did you ever wonder why he was sent to Brecon Beacons in the first place? Or how he was able to keep up with you in your activities? Or why he speaks six languages? Or why he has practically saved the world seven times? Did you?"

He addressed this stirring speech to the SAS soldiers, who were the picture of confusion itself.

"No! You probably all thought that he had a super rich Daddy who thought he would give his son a bit of a taste of what the military life is like."

The SAS soldiers now looked uncomfortable; what Walker said being true.

"You didn't know because he," he pointed a finger at Alex while still maintaining eye contact with Snake, "he didn't tell you. He could have, but he didn't."

"It was to protect them from slimy sons of bitches such as yourself, Walker," Alex said. "Ignorance is bliss, remember?"

Walker, who had trained his gun on Alex once again, now addressed his colleague who had been standing beside said lunatic while he was waving the gun around and making accusations.

"He appears-"

The man cut him off, still looking at Alex with that curious gaze, as if he was trying to peel off the layers of clothes and skin to see the real him. Alex wasn't sure whether to be disturbed or apprehensive.

He settled on he latter as the man began to speak.

"I was informed of your lack of respect for your superiors, it was in your school report after all, but I never expected you to have such disregard for your life. You have changed, Alex, and, although your progress is admirable, you still have not reached the level needed to graduate."

Alex clenched his jaw, knowing full well exactly which school the man was talking about by the gleam in his eye.

"I'm afraid you must be mistaken. I do not attend that school anymore."

Fox, having caught onto the innuendo, knew exactly which school they were referring to. Needless to say, the rest of K-Unit were severely put off track by the recent turn in the conversation. Now Alex was denying that fact that he been to school? This man obviously wasn't from social services, so why the interest in school?

"Ah, but Alex, you still use our teaching to the best of your ability, don't you?" the man smoothly countered.

Alex, growing tired of the game of words, said, "And?"

"It's a scientifically proven fact, Alex, that you never stop learning, throughout your whole life. Actually, and it's only natural to finish what lesson you started…" he trailed off suggestively.

Alex, comprehending what he was implying and hating him for it. It was almost as if the man wanted him to talk about himself in front of the SAS soldiers. But why? He'd play along for now, though. Just to see what happened.

"No way in hell!" he snapped, dropping the polite façade, along with his outer mask.

The soldiers were shocked. This wasn't the teen they had known. Actually, as they were beginning to see, they hadn't known him at all.

"But Alex, you haven't yet finished your…education. At least not to our standards."

Alex, swiftly glancing at K-Unit, and seeing understanding beginning to dawn on their faces, retorted bitterly, "I think I have a little too much learning in that department, thanks. After all, experience in the best teacher. Isn't that right, Dr Three?"

Wolf was positive that this was either one of the most frustrating, or annoying days of his life. They all seemed to being having a battle of innuendos and implications, saying one thing and meaning another. It was like being given a book he really wanted to read, but in a foreign language.

The man smiled a genuine smile. "I wondered if you knew who I was. Tell me, Alex, do your little soldiers have the same…lessons…that we do?"

"Shut up!" Alex almost shouted, self-preservation warring with logic this time, exhaustion taking a back seat in light of current circumstances. He was so used to living a life of secrets, it was uncomfortable for him to have a few of them brought into the light.

A strange light came into Dr Three's eyes. "Ohhhhhh…So they don't know? Anything at all? I was under the misimpression that the SAS were informed about you. Evidently this is not the case."

Eagle, not able to restrain his growing curiosity, asked in a loud voice, "Know WHAT?"

Alex almost groaned. Banging his head against the bars of his cell in frustration seemed like a good idea.

If Eagle hadn't intervened, he could have maybe twisted Dr Three's word back on him. Alex was very good at saying one thing, and implying another, a very useful skill that Ian had taught him.

But now that Eagle had told Dr Three that his theory was correct, the man was probably going to spill everything he knew about Alex to them.

"So you haven't told them, Alex? Tut, tut. Whatever happened to trusting your team-mates?"

Alex dropped his last façade, his last mask; the one he wore for K-Unit, and became his usual self.

Said teen gave an inelegant snort and remarked, "They're not my team-mates. You should know by now, Doctor, that I work alone."

"But not only alone, Alex. What about Turner and Troy? Ash?"

Alex's eyes widened almost imperceptibly but he quickly recovered and coolly said, "They weren't my team-mates either, and now they're dead. But, please, enlighten me Doctor, how did you know about them?"

The man gave his sickly smile again and said, "I thought you'd never ask, Alex. We have been watching you, even before the Stormbreaker mission, but that cemented our interest. Since then, we have had you under constant surveillance. Unfortunately, we were unable to remove the cameras before MI6 found and destroyed them. Thankfully, MI6 monitored you for us. It was simply a matter of stealing the tapes they took of you to collect the information we needed."

Alex's eyes widened as the Doctor's words finally sunk in. If they had been watching him; that meant that they had footage of him in action… which in turn was a very, very bad thing.

Especially if it meant what Alex thought it did.

The Doctor's smile widened as he saw Alex's facial expression go from slightly rebellious to dawning comprehension and then to something akin to horror before returning to a blank slate, no emotion showing on the planes of his face.

"So, Alex, would you like to tell your team-mates about you, or will I? Or should I show them?"

Alex was currently thinking at light speed, planning his next response carefully; trying to see all the possible outcomes. Unfortunately for him, the Doctor was not a patient man and took his silence as a sign of rebellion.

"Too late!" announced the Doctor in a cheerful tone. "I guess that means I'll be showing them."

With that said, Doctor Three clapped his hands twice and twelve guards entered the room, weapons drawn.

"Bring me the tape," he ordered. The guards nodded hurriedly and left the room.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he began in a mocking voice, glee colouring the undertone, "it is my pleasure to announce that you are the first people in the world to see this highly classified, very rare new documentary about one Alex Rider."

* * *

A/N: **Okay, first things first. I know I promised everybody that this chapter would be a long one, but I didn't feel comfortable with it so I cut half of it and pasted it into Ch. 14 to see if works better there. So instead of this chapter being 14 pages, it is merely 6 and a bit. My apologies.**

**Anyway…All people who have managed to get their hands on and read Crocodile Tears please raise your hands.**

***All with hands raised are promptly shot***

**So completely unfair! You lucky people! I haven't managed to get my hands on it yet, but I have an inkling that's what 'Santa' might bring me…as my Christmas list goes something like…**

**New laptop**

**Crocodile Tears**

**Crocodile Tears**

**Crocodile Tears**

**Croc…..etc.**

**So exams are coming up so I'll try and post once more before the new year, but please don't expect any miracles. I sincerely apologise to those people who have reviewed and to whom I have not replied. I am so incredibly sorry! I love you all really though, so please don't feel unloved. It's just so hard to keep track of who I have replied to and who I haven't, but I'm pretty sure I haven't replied to the last 10 or so because, quite frankly I was up to all hours doing coursework...I have a new record of four am doing my History coursework. Joyful stuff.**

**Anyway, I have somehow managed to come up with two new ideas for Alex Rider fics, so I'm currently typing them alongside this one and When Things Go South I'm going to put Hiatus as I want to go over the plotline for that one again.**

**I know this is an incredibly long authors note, but I had a lot of things I needed to say. This happens quite frequently, doesn't it? Okay, rambling now, so I'm going to beg you to review before saying goodbye.**

**Thanks again for reading this, and till next time,**

**Raksha x**

**Thank you to my 300th reviewer! You made my day. Lol.**


	14. A Day In The Life of One Alex Rider

**A/N: _I do not own Alex Rider or any related characters._**

**Chapter 14**

A Day in the Life of one Alex Rider

_**Recap:**_

"_Bring me the tape," he ordered. The guards nodded hurriedly and left the room._

"_Ladies and gentlemen," he began in a mocking voice, glee colouring the undertone, "it is my pleasure to announce that you are the first people in the world to see this highly classified, very rare new documentary about one Alex Rider."_

* * *

Walking through the door he had entered through earlier and shutting it firmly behind himself and his accomplices, Doctor Three hit a button attached to the wall after entering the ten digit opening sequence for the security lock.

With a terrible groaning and grinding noise, the bars that separated the SAS from their freedom lifted, shuddering to a stop when they had retracted into the ceiling with a final horrible screech that pierced every eardrum present in the room.

Cautiously, said soldiers overstepped their previous boundaries, and, finding no obstruction or pain to stop them, rushed about the room, buzzing like a hive of disturbed wasps.

What was going on?

Why were they being freed?

Where had this 'Walker' and 'Doctor Three' gone to anyway? Had their bodyguards gone with them?

"Look at them, so naive," drawled said Doctor in dismissal. "I wonder how little Alex is faring?"

Alex, meanwhile, was conversing in Russian with Yassen in a corner of the room, trying not to draw any attention to himself whatsoever.

Sadly, this was not the case as he saw Ben along with K-Unit pushing their way through the swarming masses towards them, calling his name over the hubbub.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, the men sent to bring the tape returned, having obtained said object. Walker placed the tap into the player and flicked the on switch for the projector.

The door banged open once again, bringing forth the man Alex loathed most in the world at this moment – Doctor Three – and let's not forget his faithful sidekick, Walker. Lovely pair of people really, great personalities.

The man clapped his hands for silence and gradually the noise level dropped.

Not because they were willing to do his bidding, but because the SAS had an insatiable curiosity on what they were going to be shown – Cub's background.

Almost every single one of them had wondered at the boy's past at one stage; how had a boy managed to become extraordinary enough to be allowed to train with them? And now they were about to find out.

"Alex Rider, please make your way to the front."

Slowly, Alex moved to the front, K-Unit following, not seeing any harm in the Doctor's instruction.

The aforementioned man's sickly smile reappeared on his face as he sought sight of Alex moving towards him.

As Alex reached the space at the front by the screen, guards grabbed him and held him by the arms, none too gently either as their partners pointed guns at K-Unit's protestations.

Aforementioned screen then flickered to life, or appeared to.

The first clip was of a three year old Alex, face twisted in confusion as his uncle spoke to him in Spanish.

The clip cut to a few weeks later, Alex could tell by the date at the bottom of the screen, this time showing a smiling Alex babbling away happily in Spanish to Ian. The next clip showed Alex at four learning how to speak French, and German later on in the same year. Suddenly, the screen went dark.

Alex could feel the soldiers' curious stares penetrating his back as he stood, frozen to the spot at the front, shoulders hunched in a defensive position.

Doctor Three began to speak. "Well, as you can see, Alex had a very interesting childhood, being trained by his uncle to spy from three years of age."

Alex could feel the soldiers' gazes go from questioning to pitying, so much so that it got to the point where Alex couldn't bear it. The one thing he absolutely detested; pity.

He snapped at the room in general. "So I had a different upbringing than other people, so what? Everyone has his job in life; mine was chosen for me when I was three. I see no problem with this fact; I have come to accept it."

Alex was now sure that everyone in the room was watching him. Part of his outburst was faked, to test the Doctor's reaction to it, and the other part was real. He seemed to be doing a lot of that recently; faking outbursts to test reactions. He hoped it wasn't going to be made a common occurrence in his life.

"Moving on," came the Doctor's voice and the screen came back to life.

This time, Alex was six years old and was brought to Karate classes. The soldiers stared quietly at the screen as a younger Alex was knocked down countless times and got back up, not once uttering a sound of pain.

The next clip showed Ian telling a seven year old Alex that he was going away for three weeks and that he would be back soon.

The soldiers watched in silence as Alex realised that he had no food in the refrigerator and that the phone's wiring was shot.

K-Unit were reluctantly impressed as they watched Alex grab some money from a money tin in a cupboard, leave the house and return a few hours later with numerous bags of groceries dangling from his hands.

Ben's blood boiled as he saw Alex fend for himself for a couple of weeks that turned into a couple of months.

All the soldiers watched Alex cleaned the house, ironed his clothes, managed to get his next door neighbour to fix the phone's wiring, went to his Karate classes, constantly restocked his fridge over the time that Ian was away, cooked for himself, went to school and got all his homework done.

They all stared in silence as Ian stumbled through the door after two months and three days, or so the date in the bottom left hand corner depicted, and promptly collapsed on the couch.

Alex came running into the living room. "Uncle Ian!" he cried; delight at having his Uncle home evident on his face.

Current day Alex watched in apprehension, knowing what was coming next.

Ian literally jumped off the couch, then realised who was talking to him.

"Alex? Alex, what are you doing here? Christ, trust them...fucking MI6...ask them to take care of him...bastards... Are you okay?"

Alex's face was frozen in confusion edged with a bit of pain. Current day Alex remembered thinking that Ian had arranged for him to be arrested or taken away because he didn't want him anymore. At the time, it was the only logical outcome from what he had gleaned from Ian's mutterings. Two seconds later, the Alex on screen deflated visibly before beaming up at Ian; having quickly smoothed his features into a mask of happiness, already learning to hide his emotions, and replied, "I'm fine, Uncle Ian. I cleaned the house and got the phone rewired for you!"

The clip ended and before the soldiers had time to ask Alex what the hell that last one was about, the next started.

This one showed a changed ten-year-old Alex glaring at a red haired woman.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Jack Starbright, I'm an art student. I was told to come here today..." the woman on tape trailed off, obviously confused.

"By who?"

"Um..." there was the sound of crinkling paper then, "Ian Rider."

"Why?"

"He told me I could room here? Um...I'm supposed to be your new housekeeper."

"We don't need a housekeeper."

"Well then I'll cook meals for you."

"You are not the only one proficient in the culinary arts. Now who are you really? And what do you want with us?"

"Alex," cut in Ian, appearing behind Alex's shoulder. "She is who she says she is. She's here to take care of you, as well as keep house for us."

Alex gave the woman a dark look, but didn't argue any further and opened the door wider to let her in.

The clip cut off there and the screen again went blank.

Doctor Three spoke again.

"As you can see, gentlemen, Alex's guardian wasn't very reliable and poor Alex here has had to fend for himself, until Ian Rider hired Jacqueline Starbright that is. Let's take a look at the rest of Alex's life now."

And with that said, the screen became active, cutting off Alex's reproach before he had even opened his mouth.

Surruptiously, he glanced around the room and was slightly surprised to see that almost all the soldiers' attention was avidly focused on the documentary running. Sighing audibly, Alex turned his eyes back to the screen that was currently ruining his life.

The scene started off at Alex's house at three in the morning. The police were talking to Jack in the living room; telling her about Ian's death and the cause.

The scene suddenly cut to the graveyard, showing Alex's clear reaction to the priest's words.

Alex could still remember the odd feeling inside him as the man declared Ian a 'patriot.'

"Dearly beloved prisoners, we are gathered, here in this moment, to witness the turning moment in Alex Rider's life. Alex's uncle was killed doing his job, by none other than our dear friend lurking in the corner," revealed Dr Three, seeming to thrive on the shocked looks on the SAS' faces, as well as the uncomfortable tint that was added to the tension in the room by the men standing nearest the Russian. "And yet, Alex is good friends with him, would you not agree? Let's see just what happens next."

The next clip depicted Alex jumping off the building's seventeenth floor only to nearly miss the flag he was aiming to grad a hold of. The soldiers watched in stunned silence as Alex found a handhold and then managed to fling himself onto the neighbouring office's window and then fit himself through it somehow.

The screen dimmed again and Alex tensed apprehensively. They had already seen much more of his life than he cared for them to.

Dr Three didn't disappoint.

"Unfortunately, we didn't manage to record what happened next, but gentlemen; you just saw a fourteen year old Alex's introduction to MI6. By the way, Alex, your file is very highly classified and guarded. I lost three moles to get that clip from it." A frown appeared on his face.

Alex shrugged, and resorted to sarcasm, hoping to get this over and done with as soon as possible. "What can I say? I'm a popular person."

The Doctor's eyes flashed dangerously, then calmed again.

"I would watch your tongue, young Alex. My patience has a limit to it."

Alex shrugged again, his gaze on a spot on the wall that appeared so fascinating as to hold his attention while Doctor Three was talking. He hoped his calculations were right and said, "Your point is?"

"You're never too young to die."

Alex's head jerked back to face the Doctor of its own accord. Said spy's eyes narrowed.

"I believe you've heard that saying before, haven't you, Alex? Hm?"

"Yes, I seem to recall it. Your point is?"

"Patience," chided the sadistic Doctor, "is a virtue. As is willpower and perseverance. Virtues that I believe should be applied to every situation."

"Oh believe me, Doctor, it's taking all my patience not to strangle you and all my willpower and perseverance not to fall asleep on you," muttered Alex sarcastically.

"Only the weak are unable to respond in a polite and reserved manner when being held hostage," the Doctor returned smoothly.

Alex laughed, then winced. Apparently contracting your stomach muscles, which are attached to the muscles on your hips, is not a good idea; especially when said hip muscles have recently received a gunshot wound.

"Par-_don_ me," Alex said, hurling the two words at Doctor Three. "For not understanding that I am supposed to treat the people I hate most in the world, at the time being, with courtesy, while they humiliate me. I apologise _profusely_ for this _grievous_ lack in my manners."

Doctor Three merely nodded his head sagely as if Alex had just professed something wise and wonderful.

"That's much better. But now is no time for idle chitchat, onwards!"

The screen spluttered before returning to its former state. At first Alex thought it had broken as it went dark almost immediately.

His elation at this turn of events was short lived as he heard the sound of water gently lapping against something. Greatly confused, but not showing it, Alex watched the screen with interest, and then, after recognising the scene as the sub rose from the depths, opening to reveal the blond Russian, who had remained standing in the corner, with awe almost.

Alex turned to face Doctor Three, curiosity getting the better of him.

"How the hell did you manage to film this?"

K-Unit and the SAS seemed fairly confused as they were attempting to divide their attention between Alex on screen and Alex in real life.

Apparently, on screen Alex won out in the end. Questions could always be asked later.

In response to Alex's query, the Doctor simply quirked his mouth into what the man obviously thought was a smile, but to the surrounding observers, was a lopsided, crazed grimace.

"Ah, ah, ah. You should know this, Alex," he tutted as if Alex forgetting a piece of information was a major letdown. "I told you, we've been watching you from the beginning, remember? You, of all people, should be able to picture the extent of Scorpia's network and sources."

Alex's features momentarily flitted into a scowl of displeasure, before, just as fleetingly, smoothing out again.

Turning back to the screen, he was just in time to hear Yassen's disembodied voice (it obviously wasn't a very good recording) spit, "No, you won't," at the clumsy man before drawing his gun and ending said man's life.

Alex watched apprehensively, as, if by clockwork, the SAS forces turned to face the seemingly unconcerned Russian in the corner, Doctor Three pausing the 'documentary' in face of much more interesting entertainment.

After the glaring at the blond foreigner continued for a good minute or so, Doctor Three grew bored, or so Alex guessed by his facial expression, and returned everyone present's attention to the screen by pressing play.

Narrowing his eyes at the Doctor while trying to ignore the clip playing, the one of Alex and a certain jellyfish, (Alex decided then and there to call it Fred) Alex was endeavouring to discover a way to end this.

The odds definitely weren't in his favour – Walker was, no doubt, watching all this from a yet unknown location, alongside assumed numerous quantities of regular dogsbodies.

The only way to get from this room to another was through the one door, as far as he could see, plus escape meant working with vast numbers of SAS soldiers who either hated him or pitied him.

Fabulous...

This, logically, meant that the only thing to do was to sit tight and wait for them to make a mistake.

It was a tactic that had saved his life in the past, even against Scorpia, and, if he was being honest with himself, it was really his only option at the moment.

Still plotting in his head, absorbing details from his surroundings at speeds that would short circuit the average person's brain, Alex didn't even realise that the clip of him versus Fred had ended in Fred, and Nadia Vole's, demise had finished.

Coming back to himself when he heard the noise levels drop, Alex looked around the soldiers openly gawking at him, hoping for a clue as to what had just transpired.

"After Alex's lucky escape, Alex stole a, what was it, Alex?"

"_," Alex said, answering on autopilot, finally having realised what must have been shown.

"Unfortunately, we weren't able to record his amazing driving skills as he blew up the jeep our cameraman was in-" Alex shrugged noncommittally in his defence. "-but we were able to tape his next actions."

The screen showed a picture this time. A picture of a flaming helicopter falling through the skies, lighting up the underside of the clouds like the sun at sunset.

"This is what remained of Alex's transport to London. Mr Grin, the pilot died in the explosion. Our dear friend here," the Doctor gestured, mockingly, towards Alex. Alex merely bowed, an arrogant smirk tracing his lips as he played along. "Couldn't let it rest at that and decided to get revenge on our dear Prime Minister. I regret to inform you, gentlemen, that Alex only managed to hit him in the finger, but of course, some of you were there. You'll know all about it."

"Herod Sayle," sneered Doctor Three, pronouncing the name with an undisguised disgust, "Had a back up plan. The only part we managed to get on film was this part."

Alex, along with most of the soldiers watched as Herod Sayle held a gun to Alex's head before being shot himself by Yassen Gregorovitch. The clip ended and everyone automatically turned their heads to stare at the two parties involved.

The Doctor, growing bored of the now typical, stare at Alex and Yassen reaction from the soldiers, decided to move on.

"Unfortunately, Alex's next mission took place in a school in the Alps, a place we were unable to infiltrate in time, so there are no clips from the mission apart from these."

The screen burst into motion as a dark figure was clearly shown, outlined against the white snow, snowboarding down the mountain, dodging bullets onto a train before being violently flung off it. All of a sudden the frame changed and Alex was fighting...himself? to the soldiers everlasting confusion, before the panel receded into blankness again.

Not giving the soldiers a chance to look away Doctor Three ploughed on.

"Luckily for Alex, Scorpia were able to film much more of his next mission...to Skeleton Key."

The first clip shown depicted Alex talking with Troy and Turner round a table outside a cafe, then abruptly cut to underwater. The audience watched in mute horror as both Turner and Troy entered the cave and were promptly pincushioned, their dead bodies floating eerily past the hidden camera. The next scene showed flashes of Alex and a bit of the shark before the shark's speared corpse drifted past the camera, and the screen went dark.

"What did you think of that, gentlemen? Rather impressive, even by Scorpia's standards. Taking on a great white shark at fourteen? How careless of you Alex. Of course, not as careless as you were to be. You see, gentlemen, instead of Alex turning around and going home like an ordinary person, Alex went to General Sarov's house, and was almost ground through a mincer, before being rescued by the very man he was there to investigate, because General Sarov, being the kind man he was, wanted to adopt Alex. Unfortunately, that didn't end well, as you can see here," clicking the button, Doctor Three brought the frozen images on screen to life.

The sea wind and rain made it difficult to see, however one could clearly make out the sounds of gunshots and various people dressed in uniforms fighting throughout the area. The camera seemed to be focussed on two people by the edge of the water, standing next to a large technological object. One was clearly Alex, and the other Sarov.

The SAS men watched in horror as Sarov pulled the gun on Alex, who, despite the gun, stood tall and said something incomprehensible to the camera before flicking the card in his hand into the sea. Sarov seemed to droop at this, and slowly turned the gun on himself.

Present day Alex watched the proceedings with a detached air, as he observed the shocked expressions featured predominantly on the SAS men's faces, undershadowed by no small amount of detached curiosity. All of which became resolved into horror upon the deafening noise of a gunshot.

The screen dimmed and the soldiers' attention was once again, Dr Three's. "Yes, that was a rather unfortunate incident – Sarov could've been a most valuable resource for Scorpia, but alas, Alex got in the way, once again."

He smirked darkly at Alex, before continuing. "I'm sure most of you, if not all of you, have played a playstation game in your youth. Or an X-box game. Alex's next mission, he created for himself. In this one, Alex was captured by Damain Cray, after a series of 'unfortunate' events; one of which was watching a man being crushed to death with money, and unhappily volunteered to play a real life version of his new game, which was quite an extraordinary concept."

Without further ado, the first frame gradually appeared on the screen, slinking out of the shadows and creating a sinister atmosphere felt by the SAS men, which was evident by their uneasy shifting. Alex, who had 'seen it all already,' didn't particularly fancy re-watching this particular one again, and hung his head, glaring at the floor in an attempt to communicate how unfair life was to it.

After the screen had died once again, Alex lifted his head to view the soldiers' reaction: and promptly dropped it again.

"Yes, that was one encounter that Alex was unfortunately not able to repeat, but I'm sure would have been immensely entertaining," commented Dr Three in his sadistic tone of voice. "The rest of the mission really is quite boring until we reach the finale. I'm sure you've realised by now, that Alex is a very troubled youth who, clearly, seeks attention, due to his neglected childhood, which he feels he can only get by destroying people and their possessions."

Alex's head snapped upright at that comment, the snarl of wolf plain on his face, and rage's burning eyes set into it. Baring his teeth, Alex's hatred found his voice.

"That. Is. A. Lie. You sick bastard! How could I take pleasure from watching people die? You're evil-"

The butt of a guard's gun implanted itself into Alex's sternum, winding him into incomprehensible heaving pants of noise.

"As I was saying," Dr Three continued, "Alex cannot resist going out with a bang. And so decided to destroy Air Force One."

The murmur of interest and slight disbelief that ran through the SAS men was nearly unperceivable, but there nonetheless. Curiosity was displayed in their strained necks to see the screen clearly, seeking eyes and piqued expressions. The screen roared to life in a whirlwind of noise and colour. The room where the incident was filmed was clearly moving and obviously unstable, debris was flung amuck around the cabin, the largest of which was the body crumpled in the corner of what was the inside of a very well furnished airplane body.

Alex was the main focus though, and soon managed to shove Cray out the door, a cart going with him. The cut off scream and the bang heard when the trolley made contact with the engine left no doubt about the nature of Cray's true demise, and was reflected in the sickened expressions of the hardened soldiers of the SAS. The whole room watched as Alex stumbled over to the body, legs weak. The camera listened as the man told Alex to find his destiny and to find Scorpia, then zoomed in to show the face of the dead man, and shock was present on every soldiers face and palpable in the room.

Yassen merely looked at Alex with a faint smile on his lips.

"Yes, this is the dead body of Yassen Gregorovich, who stands before you here today. He willingly sacrificed his life for Alex onboard the plane earlier, for an unpaid debt to Alex's father. We were, of course, delighted that Yassen mentioned the name of our organisation to Alex. We always wanted to become involved with Alex, but now he would come looking for us. It was the perfect opportunity," declared Dr Three, with a smug look on his face. "The recently deceased Julia Rothman would agree with me. Unfortunately, Alex went unrecognised by Scorpia in his first meeting, and resulted in his near drowning experience. Luckily Alex survived, and after discovering the truth about his father, a former operative of ours-"

"My father," said Alex in a deceptively calm voice, rage and anger simmering just below the surface of his words. "Was a good man and a undercover operative for MI6. You were just too foolish to understand that!"

"-he agreed to come work for us," Dr Three continued talking in the same unaffected monotone, as if Alex's outburst didn't happen. The room was once again bathed in light as the screen showed an idyllic scene; sun, sand and of course, a school for assassins. Alex's education was shown to not be lacking in the least. As the SAS men looked on, Alex correctly completed courses in botany and the study of poisons, disassembled and reassembled a weapon in less than 1 and a half minutes, was taught about the history of various weapons, the basics of bomb making, how to shoot with deadly accuracy and advanced martial arts.

Alex's face twisted in disgust at his former self's stupidity, a hint of remorse playing on the corner of his lips, and anger at being manipulated by Scorpia found in his creased forehead and shadows haunting his eyes.

Dr Three's beady eyes greedily absorbed every detail on Alex's face, wanting to etch the memory onto his brain for future reference. It would be him and him alone who looked back on these memories with fondness, and with the satisfaction of being the one who finally destroyed Alex Rider. He hit the button.

The screen unfolded into a rather high quality image of a reception area of a block of apartments, clearly detailing to the avid audience, the bored expression on the security guard's face expressing his enjoyment of his job perfectly. Alex tensed, aware of just exactly which clip they were showing, and not liking it one bit. He watched in remorse as himself in disguise walked into reception, carried through with his instructions, entered the elevator, and after an encounter with a guard upstairs, entered the flat of one Tulip Jones.

Alex's intent, by this point, was not lost on the SAS men by any means. A universal intake of breath was held as Alex held the woman on screen at gunpoint. Tension and curiosity were palpable in equal amounts in the room, quickly dispersed with the thunder of a gunshot in the quiet.

Alex could feel the eyes of every single SAS soldier burning holes into his back, not even one paying attention to the screen, which was now on sleep mode. K- Unit couldn't believe it, no, they refused to believe it. That was just some impressive CGI, right? Right? Cub, little, useless, Double-oh-Nothing Cub, was not a killer. Yes, that was it. But in the back of their minds, the truth refused to be euthanized. It lay wakeful of the moment a fragment of doubt would perforate the lie the men had constructed around their convoluted psyche, for that was when the weight of the situation would set in and when the men would fully realise just how deadly a cobra they had sitting amongst their chickens.

* * *

**Ouch. That was my reaction when reading this work after- what is it now? A three year absence? Wow, time flies. Frankly, this so awful that it took me a while to be motivated to write something instead of taking the easy way out and just deleting the whole catastrophe. It was only at the behest of several reviewers who still left me a review despite my absence that encouraged me to continue. I'm not sure when I'll update, it certainly shouldn't be three years...probably not before June 15th 2012...if anybody can figure out why not before June 15th 2012, I will send you a prize in the form of a cyber cookie...**

**I take credit for any and all mistakes made, seeing as I haven't read the books in a loooong time, or anything, actually...it's all just study, study, study, piano (if I'm lucky), study, study...**

**This nine page monster certainly took a lot of coaxing to write...you know those tasks that you do to get out of revision...suddenly your room needs cleaned, or the dishes need washed...or maybe you didn't do any exercise yesterday, and it's time for a run, those sort of things? Well writing this was one of those.**

**Once again, this has dragged on for way too long, and once again, thanks to all my reviewers who have managed to stick this story to the point it's at now...drop a review, if you dare to stick around that long, and tell me what you think. If you absolutely hate it, please don't bother leaving a review. Thanks again,**

**Micaha x**


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